“A beautifully written account of a year in the life of caregivers...The Caregivers is as elegantly constructed as a novel, but more than that, Lake writes about these people with such warmth and vividness that they feel as memorable as our favorite fictional characters. In sharing these stories with readers, Lake has written a book that bears witness to their ‘necessary, intimate, private heroism.’”

– Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe

“A penetrating glimpse into the modern world of caregiving…Lake shines as a storyteller…Her sympathetic portrayals are touching and thought-provoking, but Lake is at her best when examining the place and character of caregiving in today’s society….Those who are currently caregivers will find in Lake’s subjects understanding and compassion, just as they share with each other in the context of the support group.”

– Kirkus Reviews

“A chronicle of the extraordinary bravery and strength of a group of people who care for loved ones during long, final illnesses.”

– Publishers Weekly

“An elegantly written and thoughtful book that considers one of the biggest of the Big Questions we face as a society—how do we care for a ballooning aging population, with people living longer but with more health problems?—as well as the personal challenges of individuals who care for loved ones who are elderly or infirm.”

– Maureen Turner, Valley Advocate

“We are legion, we members of the middle-aged, mostly female caregiver corps, and we work our extra jobs behind the scenes. Since many of us can’t seem to summon up the energy to join that support group our friends keep suggesting to us, it’s quite canny of writer Nell Lake to provide one in book form…­­­Lake tells a good tale, and—just like an actual support group—provides comfort in the time-honored form of shared experience: Oh, You’ve been through that too.”

– Lynette Lamb, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“An intimate portrait.”

– Susan Kaplan, New England Public Radio

“Lake offers views into the complexities of caregiving: the profound stress, the upheaval of family roles, the slow, often excruciating grief, as well as the graceful humanity of it all.”

– Rachel Zimmerman, WBUR’s CommonHealth blog

“This profound study on the effects of tending to ill loved ones offers powerful testimony to friendship and mutual support.”

– Publishers Weekly

"A moving and important book."

– Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer-Prizewinning author of The Soul of a New Machine and Co-author of Good Prose

“Virtually every one of us worries about an elderly family member who needs care, or knows we'll be responsible for someone in the future, or fears needing such care someday ourselves. Yet seldom does a fine and thoughtful writer address this subject. Nell Lake’s warm and compassionate book fills a gap, speaks to universal anxieties, and lets us know we are not alone. I hope it starts a national conversation.”

– Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars

“The Caregivers offers companionship to those shouldering the sudden, complex, asymmetric, and protracted demands of caring for a family member in decline. Kind, and beautifully written, The Caregivers shares stories of lives overtaken by this common but often all-too-private, messy, and mandatory generosity. The book is not only a lucid examination of life's closing years, but a celebration of the solace and strength that come to many who accept this burden

– Mark Kramer, Writer in Residence, Boston University, and author of Invasive Procedures: A Year in the World of Two Surgeons

“Nell Lake has achieved a remarkable intimacy with the people she writes about, and she repays their trust with this refined and affecting book. In its sensitivity, compassion, and wisdom, it exemplifies the virtues it celebrates.”

– Richard Todd, author of The Thing Itself

"Nell Lake's chronicle of some ordinary people who do some extraordinary things is a perfect match of subject and writer. They are inspiring, and so is she."

– Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition

"Nell Lake’s The Caregivers illuminates asubculture all too easily overlooked and undervalued: the men and women whotoil to ease the final days, weeks, and often years of loved ones who need helpnavigating everything from the simplest activities of daily living to thecomplexities of transportation, doctors, meds and endless paperwork. In prosethat is by turns elegiac, humorous, gritty, and intimate, Lake gives hersubjects the one response they so amply deserve and so rarely receive: a deepand abiding respect."

– Madeleine Blais, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of Uphill Walkers: A Family Memoir and In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle