The Care Factor

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 wards. 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.

About the Author

Ailsa Wild was a professional acrobat and whip-cracker who ran away from the circus to become a writer. She is now an author, performer and creative facilitator with a history of deep collaboration.

Ailsa's work has appeared in Meanjin, The Monthly, ABC online and #MeToo : Stories from the Australian movement. Ailsa has also written two junior fiction series: Squishy Taylor and The Naughtiest Pixie (Hardie Grant Children's Publishing).

She is the lead writer of Small Friends Books (CSIRO Publishing), where she works with microbiologists, virologists and other scientists to translate complex science into narrative picture books. Of these,Zobi and the Zoox was the first children's book to win the Royal Zoological Society of NSW Whitely Medal, and the YA graphic novel The Invisible War was a CBCA notable and won several awards including Most Underrated Book Award.