"The crisis of care exposed by Covid-19 has deep historical roots. For centuries the caring labours of women have been taken for granted and care work has been underpaid; its values disregarded. While British society pursued economic growth and consumerism, and austerity dismantled the welfare state, the relationships of care on which we all depend have been stretched to breaking point. A time of reckoning has come and we need a radical reassessment of the many forms of care on which human wellbeing depends. Over five years, Madeleine Bunting travelled the country, speaking to charity workers, doctors, social workers, in-home carers, nurses, palliative care teams and parents, to explore the value of care, the hidden glue that binds us together. She finds remarkable stories, in GP surgeries, in work undertaken by parents for their disabled children and in end-of-life teams, that conjure a different way of imagining our society and the connections between us. Blending these revelatory testimonies with a history and language of care, and with Bunting's own experiences of caring for the young and old in her family, Labours of Love is a hugely important portrait of our nation today - and of how it might be - which raises a clarion call for change."-- Taken from book-cover.