Picador pre-empts The Reluctant Carer after anonymous viral article

Picador has pre-empted non-fiction book The Reluctant Carer by an anonymous author whose recent article went viral.

Publishing director Francesca Main acquired world English language rights in a pre-empt from Eugenie Furniss at Furniss Lawton. It will be published as a lead title in spring 2021.

The Reluctant Carer is the story of how the author unexpectedly found himself the full-time carer for his two elderly parents after their health, his career and his marriage collapsed in quick succession. The publisher said: “Two years later he is still there, everyone is still alive (just) and the worst thing imaginable has somehow brought out the best in everyone. This is the story of what it really means to be a carer in all its grim mundanity and life-affirming hilarity, and of the ties that bind even tighter when life, love and death come cold calling.”

The author is an anonymous journalist and screenwriter who caused a stir with a Guardian article in January titled "Dad has had more comebacks than Elvis: confessions of a reluctant carer".

Main said: “As soon as I read the proposal for The Reluctant Carer, I knew we had to publish it. The voice is irresistibly funny, painfully honest and at times profoundly moving. In the wake of a number of successful books about the NHS it's now time to shine a light on the millions of unpaid workers filling the gaps in the system. This is a timely and important book, one that offers solidarity not only to those who've found themselves in a similar position but to anyone reaching the point in life where the dynamic between parent and child reverses.”