Care is a constant presence throughout our lives, from the moment of our birth, through our experiences with illness and ageing, right up until our eventual deaths. We require care for our survival and flourishing. Equally, we are often called upon to care for others, be they kin, kith, acquaintances or strangers.

In this timely book, Broom and Peterie explore the experiences of contemporary 'carers' across a broad range of sites and contexts, interrogating care's complexities, contradictions and embeddedness in the (sometimes coercive, often unjust) systems and structures of contemporary life. Centring carers' experiences in contexts as seemingly different as illness and unemployment, immigration detention and more-than-human life, they illuminate the unwieldy nature of care and caring, troubling romanticized renderings of the carer experience and exposing care's darker underbelly.

Ultimately, this book offers a unique analysis of caring relations that integrates rich human stories, cutting-edge social science and humanities theory, and a focus on the social, political and economic transformations that are rapidly reshaping carers' lives.

Alex Broom is Professor of Sociology and Director of Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies at The University of Sydney.

Michelle Peterie is Australian Research Council DECRA Senior Research Fellow in Sociology at The University of Sydney.