This is a kind and practical guide to fatherhood through the lead-up to birth and new parenting. Once a letter to a dear friend and quickly passed on from dad to dad. Ailsa Wild’s warm and encouraging words of precious love and excitement have expanded into this beautiful book to be shared on the parenting journey.

Becoming a father is a time of love and learning, and dads belong right in the middle of their families: sharing the mental load and emotional labour, embracing play and connection, and experiencing all the joy and messiness. It’s going to be wonderful You’re going to be wonderful.

The Care Factor tells the story of one incredible nurse – one among many – who chose to meet an unprecedented global health crisis on the frontline.

Simone Sheridan has one of the most sought-after skills today. As a nurse, her skill is to care. When Covid-19 began to spread across the world in 2020, Sim volunteered to retrain to work in Melbourne’s intensive care units. And as she prepared to go back to ICU and case numbers began climbing, Sim started talking to her friend Ailsa. Through the exhaustion, the confusion, the many tears and the surprising moments of hilarity, Sim kept talking. And Ailsa started writing.

In The Care Factor, Ailsa walks behind Sim as she faces the realities of the coronavirus. The result is a deeply human account of what the pandemic has really meant, not just for Sim and her fellow health professionals, but also for their patients, their families and friends, and the many who faced life in lockdown. This is a celebration of nursing, of friendship, and of the layers of connection and care that allow us to keep going when it feels impossible.