Full Metal Cardigan

Full Metal Cardigan is David Emery's first book and chronicles his adventures in social care, from enthusiastic volunteer to feral frontline worker, taking in abusive popstars, chanting cults, drug runs, sectioning a corpse and teaching masturbation to reluctant sex offenders.

He recounts how he gained international notoriety for cheating in a pancake race, encounters with the supernatural, high court appearances, cryogenically frozen kittens, accidentally booking someone into Dignitas, one-inch death punches in Woolworths, jumping out of moving cars, waterboarding, psychotic psychopaths, knife-wielding pregnant women and suicide attempts with rhubarb along the way.

This is a humorous look at life as a social worker: in turns both laugh-out-loud funny and mind-boggling.

Auteur

Born in Bury, Manchester, David grew up with his parents, sisters and a revolving cast of characters that his mum would bring home from the local secure psychiatric hospital where she worked. After finishing college, he went on to a career in archaeology until it became clear that he was more suited to working with the living than the dead.

A voluntary job supporting vulnerable young people confirmed this and encouraged him to find paid work in various residential and nursing homes. From this he trained to be a social worker and has gone on to work in all areas of the profession; from children to older age, on the frontline and as a manager.

David lives in the countryside with his wife and children where he spends his days working for the NHS and his evenings writing in the shed. Full Metal Cardigan is his first book.