Molly Case

The hand of a stranger offered in solace. A flower placed on a dead body as a mark of respect. A gentle word in response to fear and anger. It is these moments of empathy, in the extremis of human experience, which define us as people. Nobody knows this better than a nurse and Molly Case has witnessed countless such moments.

In How to Treat People, she documents these extraordinary points, when two people truly connect. In rich, lyrical prose, she introduces us to patients with whom we share the pain, but also the experience of illness when life is at its most vivid. And when her father is admitted to the high dependency unit on which she works, Molly confronts care in a whole new way, when two worlds – the professional and the personal – suddenly collide. Weaving together medical history, art, memoir and science, How to Treat People beautifully illustrates the intricacies of the human condition and the oscillating rhythms of life and death. Most of all, it is a heart-stopping reminder that we can all find meaning in being part, even for a moment, of the lives of others.

“How to Treat People gets to the heart of who we are – how we live and also how we die. I was moved twice over – by the work Molly does as a nurse every day, and by the book she has written,” Nina Stibbe

“What differentiates How to Treat People from other cracking doctor and nurse memoirs already out there is Case’s youth and her outstanding use of language. Her charm is her generation’s charm: open, loving, bold, inquisitive, caring. May she inspire her contemporaries to join her in a vital job,” Melanie Reid (The Times)