If you look up "Resilience" in the dictionary you should find a picture of Sandra Pankhurst. I imagine her looking back at me from the page, sybillic, blue-eyed and golden-haired, immaculately dressed and made up, perhaps a smile playing around the corners of her mouth. I try, again and again, to reconcile all the different versions of herself Sandra has been, or made herself into, but the incongruities keep coming up against one another. Is this her gift, that she so resolutely IS, in spite of everything that befell her?

Sandra Pankhurst was born, designated 'male', in the early fifties. She survived stomach-churning abuse and neglect at the hands of her adoptive parents, married and had children, performed in drag shows, had gender reassignment surgery, was a sex worker, remarried, ran businesses and created Specialised Trauma Cleaning (STC) Services Pty Ltd. STC is who you call when you need to clean up after hoarders, squalid or trashed properties, meth labs, homicides, suicides and "other death scenes." With seemingly boundless compassion and empathy coupled with a Puritan work-ethic, Mrs Pankhurst and her team bring hygiene, order and sweetness to the most fetid places hidden in ordinary suburbs.

Sarah Krasnostein has crafted a biography that is almost a love-letter, its language skillfully making an economical statement here, a sharp, shocking stab of pain there, or rising gracefully to some sunlit imagery or compassionate admiration of her subject, and her wounded clientele. It is also a shout into the darkness inhabited by cruel bigotry, malicious neglect and faceless beaurocracy, proclaiming, "Sandra, this is your story. You exist in the Order of Things and the Family of People. You belong, you belong, you belong."

The Trauma Cleaner deservedly won the 2018 Victorian Premier’s literary awards including the $100,000 Victorian prize for literature and the $25,000 category prize for nonfiction. I hope many people read Sandra Pankhurst's story, and I hope that Sandra can in some way use this book to create that deep feeling of belonging that enables us to truly connect with one another. I also hope to read more from Sarah Krasnostein in the future. ( )

This story found within the pages of THE TRAUMA CLEANER One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster was unexpected. I find myself a bit mislead because I wanted this to be about a woman who cleaned up messes and made it easier to cope and move on from the traumatic event of Death what I got was a book about a woman who transitions from being a man to a woman. When I start off my review and say I feel mislead I so not wish anyone to think I am disappointed this is still a three-star read. I find Sandra’s candor refreshing. While helping people deal with there lives and delimas we get a glimpse of who Sandra was and who she wanted to be. If you take anything away from this book I hope that acceptance and self-awareness is what you get. The strength that is depicted in these pages is not something to take lightly. I am so glad to live in a day and age where I can say that people need to do what makes them feel like the best versions of themselves and not give into what society wants them to be. Sarah Krasnostein is very courageous in telling Sandra’s story just as Sandra is amazing for opening up and being herself regardless of the rough road. Rhank you netgalley and all parties for my arc.
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Wow! This was a fabulous book. Raw, revealing, touching, sad and kind. I wonder why I had waited so long to read this. ( )

Wow! This was an amazing read... not what I expected. Sandra’s life is undeniably sad. The cleaning is almost secondary (although I ‘enjoyed’ grimacing through the descriptions of them too) but are woven into Sandra’s story, shedding light onto her character and how she is able to deal with her clients with absolute patience, firmness, care, and with no judgement. ( )

This is a beautiful biography ( )