Christie Watson

WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD 2011. 'Everything changed after Mama found Father lying on top of another woman.' Blessing and her brother Ezikiel adore their larger-than-life father, their glamorous mother and their comfortable life in Lagos. But all that changes when their father leaves them for another woman. Their mother is fired from her job at the Royal Imperial Hotel - only married women can work there - and soon they have to quit their air-conditioned apartment to go and live with their grandparents in a compound in the Niger Delta. Adapting to life with a poor countryside family is a shock beyond measure after their privileged upbringing in Lagos. Told in Blessing's own beguiling voice, Tiny Sunbirds Far Away shows how some families can survive almost anything. At times hilarious, always poignant, occasionally tragic, it is peopled with characters you will never forget.

Christie Watson was a nurse for twenty years. Taking us from birth to death and from A and E to the mortuary, The Language of Kindness is an astonishing account of a profession defined by acts of care, compassion and kindness. We watch Christie with a new mother holding her premature son who has miraculously made it through the night, we stand by her side as she spends many hours watching agonising heart and lung surgery, 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 there by your side. She is a guide, mentor and friend. And in these dark days of division and isolationism, she encourages you to stretch out your hand.

"Egy rendkívüli könyv életről és halálról, olyan ragyogóan megírva, hogy az embernek eláll a lélegzete." Ruby Wax Jöjjenek velem a kórtermekbe, legyenek tanúi születésnek és halálnak. Elhaladunk a koraszülöttosztály, majd a kórtermek dupla ajtaja előtt; végigsietünk a folyosón, közben újraélesztünk egy beteget, aztán tovább a gyógyszertár és a személyzeti konyha mellett, egyenesen a baleseti és sürgősségi osztályra. [...] Útközben sok emberrel fogunk találkozni: betegekkel, rokonokkal, kórházi személyzettel - akiket talán már ismernek is. Hisz életünk során mindannyian szorultunk már ápolásra. És ápolók vagyunk mindannyian. "Rémisztő, ugyanakkor gyengéd, de mélységesen igaz." Jacqueline Wilson

Otevírají se před námi dveře nemocnice, abychom byli svědky těžkých i krásných okamžiků, které při svém povolání zažila autorka, zdravotní sestra Christie Watsonová. Seznámíme se nejen s hluboce citlivým portrétem jedné zdravotní sestry, ale i s mnoha lidmi, do jejichž životů při plnění svých profesních úkolů vstoupila. Na novorozenecké jednotce intenzivní péče se maličcí pacienti v inkubátorech pohybují na samé hraně přežití – jako Emmanuel, kterému je pouhých čtyřiadvacet týdnů a váží jen 900 gramů. Na dětském oddělení sestry jemně myjí vlasy dvanáctileté Jasmíně, kterou otrávily zplodiny při požáru. Tělo jako by najednou bylo lehčí… to dívka zemřela. Na pohotovosti je plno jako každý den – péči je třeba poskytnout jak křehké šedovlasé Betty, jež má bolesti na hrudníku, tak pacientům, jejichž problémy vyvolala závislost na drogách nebo alkoholu. Na geriatrickém oddělení přichází nejvíc ke slovu samotná podstata ošetřovatelství: podpora důstojnosti pacienta, opravdový zájem, projevovaná něha a respekt k jeho osobnosti. A potom úrazová pohotovost: „I tentokrát mě před dveřmi na pohotovost sevře strach. Bude lepší, když se tam vydáme společně. Nádech, výdech. Když půjdete se mnou, všechno zvládneme. Chyťte mě za ruku a pevně se držte. Společně dveře rozrazíme a postavíme se čelem k čemukoli, co nás za nimi čeká, všem hrůzám i krásám života. Nelekneme se ničeho. Dokud se budeme držet, ruce se nám nebudou třást.“

`It made me cry. It made me think. It made me laugh. It encouraged me to appreciate this most underappreciated of professions more than ever' Adam Kay, author of This is Going to Hurt 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 vital and timely book about inspirational nurses, and the bravery of patients and families, from the bestselling author of The Language of Kindness. 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. Praise for Christie Watson:'Let's be thankful for wonderful nurses - and writers - like Christie Watson' Jacqueline Wilson'Christie Watson is a remarkable writer turning her attention to a crucially important conversation' Nathan Filer'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