How can we communicate when things are so painful? How can we connect when generational differences are extreme? How do parents and teenagers – and all of us – have real conversations?

When Rowan was sixteen, she only tolerated communication from her mother in the form of Snapchat. Desperate to be closer to her daughter, Christie sent daily selfies of her face superimposed onto a chicken nugget. It took serious illness for them to finally talk – and truly listen.

Rowan’s mental health struggles revealed the chasm between their generations. They started being more honest with each other than they had ever been before: discussing identity, race, gender and neurodivergence; opening up about disordered eating and self-harm; navigating the perils of social media.

In an age of polarisation, this is how a mother and daughter find humour in the things that divide them and become more hopeful about the future of our world.

A book for all parents and teenagers going through a tough time, for friends, grandparents, teachers and healthcare professionals who want to help, its bare honesty will have you laughing – and possibly crying – out loud as it shows that you are not alone.

‘I loved this book and I know it will help many families during difficult times’ JULIA SAMUEL
‘Incredibly brave, generous and important’ CLOVER STROUD
‘It made me cry, laugh and hug my daughter extra tightly’ BRYONY GORDON

‘Brilliant… Like having an honest conversation with a smart and funny friend’ Cathy Rentzenbrink

Am I a terrible mother? Is the world ending? Did I turn the oven off? Did I pay the parking fine? Is my TV licence up to date? Will I go to prison? Who will take care of the children?

This is the story of Christie Watson’s journey through midlife. The joy of letting go and the pain of the morning after, the unstoppable power of female friendship and the struggle to raise teenagers as a single parent. It lays bare the exhilaration, agony, wonder and fears of being a middle-aged woman with a wild heart, a changing body and a new set of challenges. And as her world takes on a different shape, there’s something else she starts to feel: the hot flush of possibility…

‘I adore Christie Watson. Quilt on Fire is full of her trademark candour, compassion and humour’ Elizabeth Day

‘You don’t have to be in midlife to appreciate this funny, real, empathetic memoir about the multitudes contained in every woman’ Red

Nurses have never been more important.

We benefit from their expertise in our hospitals and beyond: in our schools, on our streets, in prisons, hospices and care homes. When we feel most alone, nurses remind us that we are not alone at all.

In The Courage to Care bestselling author Christie Watson reveals the remarkable extent of nurses’ work:

– A community mental-health nurse choreographs support for a man suffering from severe depression
– A teen with stab wounds is treated by the critical-care team; his school nurse visits and he drops the bravado
– A pregnant woman loses frightening amounts of blood following a car accident; it is a military nurse who synchronises the emergency department into immaculate order and focus.

Christie makes a further discovery: that, time and again, it is patients and their families – including her own – who show exceptional strength in the most challenging times. We are all deserving of compassion, and as we share in each other’s suffering, Christie Watson shows us how we can find courage too. The courage to care.

‘Let’s be thankful for wonderful nurses – and writers – like Christie Watson’ Jacqueline Wilson

‘Christie Watson writes with the fullness of her heart to give us insight into the world of patients and nursing, inspiring us to recognise it is how we treat people, how we speak and respond to them, as well as what we do, that heals’ Julia Samuel

“The handbook for compassion… a must-read book” Chris Evans

Nurses have never been more important. We benefit from their expertise in our hospitals and beyond: in our schools, on our streets, in prisons, hospices and care homes. When we feel most alone, nurses remind us that we are not alone at all.

In The Courage to Care bestselling author Christie Watson reveals the remarkable extent of nurses’ work. A community mental-health nurse choreographs support for a man suffering from severe depression. A teen with stab wounds is treated by the critical-care team; his school nurse visits and he drops the bravado. A pregnant woman loses frightening amounts of blood following a car accident; it is a military nurse who synchronises the emergency department into immaculate order and focus.

Christie makes a further discovery: that, time and again, it is patients and their families – including her own – who show exceptional strength in the most challenging times. We are all deserving of compassion, and as we share in each other’s suffering, Christie Watson shows us how we can find courage too. The courage to care.

“I loved The Courage to Care – Christie Watson writes so tenderly and truthfully. It is a spirit-lifting read” Jacqueline Wilson

Christie Watson was a nurse for twenty years. Taking us from birth to death and from A&E to the mortuary, The Language of Kindness is an astounding account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness.

We watch Christie as she nurses a premature baby who has miraculously made it through the night, we stand by her side during her patient’s agonising heart-lung transplant, and we hold our breath as she washes the hair of a child fatally injured in a fire, attempting to remove the toxic smell of smoke before the grieving family arrive.

In our most extreme moments, when life is lived most intensely, Christie is with us. She is a guide, mentor and friend. And in these dark days of division and isolationism, she encourages us all to stretch out a hand.

‘A powerful insight into the life of nurses’ The Times, Books of the Year

‘A remarkable book about life and death and so brilliantly written it makes you hold your breath’ Ruby Wax