The Language of Kindness

#1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Could not be more compelling or more welcome. It's about how we survive, and about the people who help us do so.” —The New York Times

“I challenge anyone to get through all 336 pages without weeping.” —The Sunday Times

Christie Watson spent twenty years as a nurse, and in this intimate and remarkably powerful book, she opens the doors of the hospital and shares its secrets. She takes us down hospital corridors to visit the wards and meet her unforgettable patients. In the neonatal unit, premature babies fight for their lives—like tiny Emmanuel, wrapped up in a sandwich bag. In the cancer wards, the nurses administer chemotherapy and, after the medicine stops working, something more important—which Watson learns to recognize when her own father is dying of cancer. The emergency room is overcrowded as ever, with alcohol- and drug-addicted patients, as well as patients like Betty, a widow suffering chest pain, frail and alone.

All of us will experience illness in our lifetimes, and we will all depend on the vital care and kindness that nurses offer us; yet the people who form the vanguard of our health care remain unsung. In this age of fear, hate, and division, The Language of Kindness reminds us of all that we share and of the urgency of compassion.