The Trauma Cleaner

by Sarah Krasnostein

This was an emotive and sometimes shocking read. It’s the real-life tale of Sandra Pankhurst: her hard-knock upbringing, coming out as trans, living as a sex worker, and her uncountable personal tragedies.

Sandra now runs a business doing industrial cleaning after deaths and in hoarder/squalor situations, and in this book the stories from her past are peppered with client interactions from the present day. This book is a fantastic study on human connection, struggle, autonomy and chiefly, compassion.