For his sins, Peter Rose has always kept a diary. Over the years, ABR has occasionally published extracts, which have tended to consist of annual highlights laced with gossip and humour. The 2021 instalment is rather different in tone. The lockdowns occasioned by the pandemic also coincided with a marked deterioration in the health of his mother, who moved into aged care in March last year.

In this episode of the ABR podcast, Rose reads diary extracts from January until June (July to December will follow in a subsequent episode), documenting the anguish and impotence that go with being a carer under lockdown – as well as the volatile unconscious life of these feelings. Mordant and moving in equal measure, this selection offers a glimpse into both the waking life of an editor and his dreaming one.

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