The Trauma Cleaner: One woman's extraordinary life in death, decay & disaster by Sarah Krasnostein.

...Sandra is at once exactly like you or me or anyone we know and, at the same time, she is utterly peerless.

I think it's fair to say this biography blew my mind.

Sandra Pankhurst is an Australian woman whose business specialises in cleaning up hoarders homes, death scenes, methamphetamine labs and any other grisly scenario you can imagine. Sandra is very good at what she does and is a fascinating character. Her strength lies in the compassionate way she deals with her clients; especially the hoarders who often have heart-wrenching stories and are present while the cleaning team tackle years of collecting and decay.

Sandra began life as Peter, a little boy who is adopted and then starved, neglected, and abused by his new family. Peter grows up, marries, and has children, before beginning a new life as a woman.

Sandra spent time as a Les Girls performer in Melbourne and self-funded her gender reassignment surgery. She worked as a prostitute in mining towns, and later as a funeral director (who married the owner of the business). Her abusive upbringing  and her experiences as a trans woman, as well as sexual, physical and emotional abuse she endured during this time, have left inevitable scars.
It seems as though Sandra is healing her many personal traumas through her empathy towards her clients and the transformation of horrific physical spaces.

Alternate chapters in The Trauma Cleaner detail Sandra's personal history and experiences; and her Trauma Cleaning clients.  Both topics are interesting enough to stand alone as a book, together they are riveting, if not sometimes difficult, reading.

Writer Sarah Krasnostein is also a lawyer and met Sandra at a seminar for forensic support services. She was fascinated by Sandra's story and the two became close over the four years she spent writing the book and attending jobs with Sandra. Her writing is sometimes a little clunky, but this ultimately does not matter as Sandra's story speaks for itself and completely held my attention.

A truly amazing woman with an amazing life history. Highly recommend.

Reviewed by Katrina

Catalogue link:    The Trauma Cleaner
ebook:  The Trauma Cleaner

A tale of woe: books wounded in action

In the season of goodwill, spare a thought for those books which fail to make it through life without the occasional mishap; from the all-too-common drink spill to the lesser-spotted animal attack, we’ve compiled a tongue-in-cheek list of some of the rich pickings to be had amongst the great returns bin in the sky…

It’s worth pointing out that some of these mishaps happened to members of staff, so don’t feel too bad!

Water damage and spilt drinks

By far the most common scenario we come across when books are returned with damage is through exposure to water, often in the form of drinks bottles inside bags. The condensation on the outside of the bottle can seep into the book causing the pages to wrinkle, crease and become brittle when they dry out. Sticky soft drinks can also cause pages to stick together which rip when opened. One way to avoid this is to keep your books in a separate carrier bag when you need to transport them.

Left outside

Almost as common, and as unlikely as it sounds, we see quite a few books that have been left outside and been exposed to all the NZ weather gods can throw at them. This has the same effect as spilling drinks as pages get wet and then become fragile when they dry out. If the book is not allowed to dry, it may become moldy which presents a health risk to the reader. The other problem with leaving them outside is that rain water is not very clean so the books are exposed to salt and pollutants trapped in raindrops. We’ve also had the occasional book returned with slug trails on it!

Washed!

Accidents happen, and once in a while we see a book that’s definitely been through the ringer! Books can get bundled up into laundry if they’re near the bed, or put down absently-mindedly near the washing machine. Sadly, these books are well beyond repair – and identification as well! A tumble in the machine isn’t the only way to clean up a book… we hear of plenty of books that have taken a dunk in the tub at bath time along with their readers.

Repairs

We love that our customers love our books as much as we do, but if a books is damaged while out on loan please don’t be tempted to repair it yourself. Sticky tape can cause lasting damage when the acid in the glue seeps into the pages of the book. At the libraries we use special, acid-free tape to repair small tears and we have staff that are specially trained in the repair and restoration of books.

Too much love

Books can often be more than just a way to pass the time; some become treasured objects that invoke powerful feelings and memories in the reader. Some are handed down through the family and some are constant companions, read and re-read over and again. It’s these books which suffer from too much love as they become worn and weary, and tattered and torn.

My dog/little brother ate it!

More often heard in classrooms around the country, we’ve seen the odd dog-eared book come across our desk. Sadly most of these books are irreparable and we have no choice to but to dispose of them and replace them.