Skip to product information
1 of 1

The Carer

'A cracking, crackling social comedy' The Times
  • Author
    • Deborah Moggach
Format
Regular price £8.99
Regular price Sale price £8.99

'Moggach is at the height of her powers with this book, which moves from a beautifully observed comedy of middle-class life to an immensely moving celebration of two imperfect marriages' Sunday Times

An unforgettable novel about age, caring and with a twist you won't see coming...

'A cracking, crackling social comedy, with some brilliant observations about ageing and a devilish plot twist' The Times

From the bestselling author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a deliciously funny, poignant and wry novel, full of surprising twists and turns:

James is getting on a bit and needs full-time help. So Phoebe and Robert, his middle-aged offspring, employ Mandy, who seems willing to take him off their hands. But as James regales his family with tales of Mandy's virtues, their shopping trips and the shared pleasure of their journeys to garden centres, Phoebe and Robert sense something is amiss.

Then something extraordinary happens which throws everything into new relief, changing all the stories of their childhood - and the father - that they thought they knew so well.

'A world full of charm, warmth and pitch-perfect humour...punctuated by Moggach's blistering truths about the sorrowful threads that bind families together' Sunday Express

'Joyous' Daily Mail

What readers say about THE CARER:

'Comedy and reality and some delicious writing - what a pleasure!' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'What a wonderful story; full of so many unusual twists and turns whilst still being wholly believable' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'Beautifully written. You think you know where this is going? Well, you're completely wrong! Certainly worthy of five stars for writing, content, and how much I enjoyed reading this book' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

'Moggach's characterisations are, as ever, superb' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
  • Published: Apr 30 2020
  • Pages: 288
  • 196 x 128mm
  • ISBN: 9781472260499

Not available for shipping to the following countries:

  • ASM
  • CAN
  • GUM
  • MNP
  • UMI
  • FSM
  • MHL
  • PHL
  • PRI
  • USA
  • VIR
View full details

Press Reviews

  • Marian Keyes

    Unputdownable, fun and tender with characters that jump off the page. Perfection
  • Sabine Durrant

    I just loved it - so touching and wise and funny, full of all the lovely touches that Debby is so good at. She draws characters so deftly; you begin to think you know them from the smallest of observations. They're all so human!
  • Patrick Gale

    The Carer will ring bells for any reader with parents reaching the grab-rail stage of life but proves as touching as it's funny. Moggach writes in the best funny-ouch tradition, her humour always rooted in acute observation of our frailties and appetites
  • Louisa Young

    Deborah Moggach's warm heart and cool eye for hilarious British idiosyncrasies are both on top form here - I laughed like a drain. Specially at the hippy Lothario in the wet Welsh woods
  • Adele Parks

    Beautifully written, oozing interesting characters that you genuinely care about
  • Tessa Hadley
    Lit up a dull day with its warmth and wit
  • Lisa Appignanesi
    The most endearing of humorists, Deborah Moggach casts a penetrating eye on our foibles and fantasies. Neither ageing, nor death - as The Carer so beautifully demonstrates - can resist her comic scrutiny
  • Susie Boyt
    A wry, witty and wise novel, full of insight and understanding'
  • Woman & Home
    If you enjoyed THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, there's a chance you'll love the author's new novel even more. A heartwarming triumph
  • Robbie Millen

    The Times
    A cracking, crackling social comedy with some brilliant people observations about ageing and a devilish plot twist
  • Readers Digest
    A sharp, witty, characteristically generous and gallopingly readable novel
  • The i
    Surprising, funny and certain to have more than one reader wincing in recognition
  • Best
    A witty tale, with beautifully drawn characters
  • Good Housekeeping
    Moving and funny
  • Daily Mirror
    Moggach's latest is full of warmth and humour as well as blistering truths about the sorrowful threads that bind families
  • Kate Saunders

    The Times
    Moggach addresses an all too common nightmare with ruthless honesty and sublime wit - The Carer is one of the funniest novels I have read for ages
  • Wendy Holden

    Daily Mail
    This joyous novel ... a sustained satire on smug middle-class mores, like a deranged Archers omnibus. Can there be higher praise?
  • India Knight

    I love her book - and this one especially. It's marvellous
  • Hannah Beckerman

    Observer
    Infuses the subject with her trademark humour and pathos, reshaping a societal dilemma into a family drama, by turns compelling and surprising - her nuanced characterisations make the subject matter really come alive
  • Sunday Express, S Mag
    This is a world full of charm, warmth and pitch-perfect humour, but it is also a world punctuated by Moggach's blistering truths on the tangled, sorrowful threads of resentment and disappointment that bind families together
  • Sunday Times
    Moggach is at the height of her powers with this book, which moves from a beautifully observed comedy of middle-class life to an immensely moving celebration of two imperfect marriages
  • Spectator
    Wickedly, witty entertainment. Moggach is so very good at describing the ordinary, she transforms it into the unusual, shocking and fascinating. Behind the normality of people's lives there often lies an extraordinary story. It's this that Moggach tells with insight, acute observation of character and mordant humour. The Carer is an immediately relevant work, a fiction anchored in reality
  • Private Eye
    Good, rollicking, and occasionally, what with the file of evasions, duplicity and fractured emotion, wounding and reflective stuff