Rachel Cumming

Young Single Homeless Rachel Cumming

This book is centred around a hostel for young homeless people. It tells the stories of several of the residents, namely: Angela, Trevor and Lee, their backgrounds, characters and how they come to be living, in their teenage years at a hostel for the homeless. It leads the reader into their view of the world, through their eyes and reasoning. it portrays the day to day workings of the hostel, gives insights into the lives of the residents and illustrates the stresses and strains that the staff working there endure. As well as the residents the book focuses on the characters of two staff members, Joe, a Project Worker and his Manager Fiona. The book traces through past and present day, and through the culmination of events, leads Joe down a dangerous path towards the unseen world of social deprivation and crime, and to agonising over social and moral dilemmas. This book could be described as 'bitter sweet' It is humorous in places, yet is a touching story which, by it's subject matter, cannot help treading on thorny political and social issues, such as youth homelessness, child abuse and crime. This book (although fictional) has been inspired by real events and true characters. To protect confidentiality, names have been changed and composite characters produced rather than portraits. There is no mention of the Town, Housing Association or the hostel itself. This book is not about people living on the streets, but more about the individual lives of the residents and the circumstances that lead them to become homeless.