Book Synopsis

An urgent and deeply affecting account of America's failure to provide meaningful support to its chronically ill and disabled citizens and our resulting reliance on the unpaid caregiving labor of spouses and intimate partners.

When twenty-seven-year-old Laura Mauldin moved to New York for graduate school, she fell headlong into love. But just months into the relationship, her partner's leukemia returned--and in a country without adequate systems for long-term care, Laura found herself quietly and devastatingly transformed from romantic partner to unpaid, full-time caregiver, fighting to keep the woman she loved alive in a system designed to let them both fall through the cracks.

Now a sociologist and professor of disability studies, Dr. Mauldin turns her private pain into a searing public investigation. To better understand her own experience, she speaks with couples across the country navigating the brutal, lonely fallout of chronic illness and disability. These are heartbreaking stories of love under strain -- relationships full of extraordinary intimacy and resilience, but pushed to the edge by an ableist society that would rather look away from its most vulnerable citizens. At the heart of this investigation is a profound series of questions: What if love isn't enough? What if our most cherished romantic ideals--commitment, sacrifice, "in sickness and in health" -- have been weaponized to excuse the state from its responsibilities? And what happens to love when we ask it to do the work of an entire broken system?

Urgent, unflinching, and full of grace, In Sickness and In Health is a rallying cry for a radical reimagining of care--not as an individual act of devotion, but as a collective responsibility. In connecting the care crisis to the politics of love and intimacy, Mauldin reframes the conversation, urging us to build a world where no one is left to do the work of love alone.

Review Quotes

"An unflinching look at private worlds of pain and a forceful denunciation of America's for-profit healthcare system." - Publisher's Weekly, starred review
"In Sickness and in Health is a damning indictment of the American healthcare system, and a heartfelt tribute to the caretakers who fill those gaps, often past their own breaking points. Likely a shock to some readers, while deeply resonant for those who've suffered under this system, Mauldin's writing speaks clearly and empathetically to both audiences." --Sara Novic, New York Times bestselling author of True Biz
"In Sickness and In Health deftly connects personal stories with public policy, disability history, and data that provide a broader context critical to understanding the systems that devalue disabled people and those that care for them. The future of care involves an understanding of interdependence and collective care. This book gives us a window into what is broken and what is possible. Empathetic, essential, and illuminating." --Alice Wong, author of Year of the Tiger: An Activist's Life
"In Sickness and In Health will break your heart and enrage you, but it will also put you back together again. Laura Mauldin splays open some of the most hidden and intimate parts of what it is to be a human, revealing a radical idea that shouldn't be radical at all: that care for each other should be a collective, shared responsibility. If we are to survive with our humanity and dignity intact, we'll have to learn to love ourselves and each other better. In Sickness and In Health shows us a way forward." --Christine Sun Kim, artist
"A moving and necessary book, beautifully written and brutally honest. Maudlin elevates the voices of the millions of caregivers who are holding our vulnerable and fraying society together, and reminds us that we can, and must, care for them, too." --Astra Taylor, author of The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart
"Laura Mauldin's In Sickness and in Health is radical, revelatory, tender, and true. Compassionately weaving together the stories of caregivers and those being cared for, the book is gripping, human, and a call to action to change our broken systems of care. A must-read." --Emily Rapp Black, author of Frida Kahlo and My Left Leg