Homeless Lives

Rachel Anne Ridge was at the end of her rope. The economy had crashed, taking her formerly thriving business along with it. She had been a successful artist, doing work she loved, but now she felt like a failure. How would her family pay their bills? What would the future hold? If only God would somehow let them know that everything was going to be all right... and then Flash the donkey showed up.

Like many girls her age in India, thirteen-year-old Koly faces her arranged marriage with hope and courage. But Koly's story takes a terrible turn when in the wake of the ceremony, she discovers she's been horribly misled—her life has been sold for a dowry. Can she forge her own future, even in the face of time-worn tradition? Perfect for schools and classrooms, this universally acclaimed, bestselling, and award-winning novel by master of historical fiction Gloria Whelan is a gripping tale of hope that will transport listeners of all ages.

Thousands of people live in the subway, railroad, and sewage tunnels that form the bowels of New York City. This audiobook is about them, the so-called mole people, living alone and in communities, in subway tunnels, and below subway platforms. It is about how and why people move underground, who they are, and what they have to say about their lives and the "topside" world they've left behind.

Meredith Martin Delinn just lost everything: Her friends, her homes, her social standing - because her husband Freddy cheated rich investors out of billions of dollars. Desperate and facing homelessness, Meredith receives a call from her old best friend, Constance Flute. Connie's had recent worries of her own, and the two depart for a summer on Nantucket in an attempt to heal. But the island can't offer complete escape, and they're plagued by new and old troubles alike.

Sunita has always wanted a cat, but her parents are dead set against it. Then she finds a group of strays living in the wild, and knows she can domesticate them - even though she’s been told that these are feral cats, who see humans as their enemies. First, she convinces Dr. Mac to examine the cats, fix them, and give them shots. Then she wants to re-release the cats, now healthy, into the neighborhood. The problem is, the neighbors consider the cats dangerous pests. Will Sunita's plan backfire?

Fans of Nora Roberts and Sandra Brown will enjoy the heart wrenching story of a woman embracing a past trauma in the face of danger in award-winning author Quinn Avery’s newest standalone, In Her Father's Shadow. Sienna Rivers’s aspirations for a normal childhood came crashing down the night they discovered her father was a serial killer. Once her mother’s illusion of a perfect family is destroyed, Sienna is sent to live with the only other “family” she knows. After a lifetime of living with her mother’s perfection and rules, Sienna (now going by “Rowan”) struggles to find a...

Meet Tom. Or Dr O’Grady, as he used to be called. When you pass him on the street, most people don’t even give him a second glance. You see, Tom isn’t living his best life. Burdened by grief, he’s only got his loyal dog, Bette Davis, for company and a rucksack containing his whole world. Then there’s Ruth and her son, DJ, who no longer have a place to call home. But Ruth believes that you can change the world by helping one person at a time - and Tom needs her help. There are a thousand ways to find your home - you just need to be brave enough to look for them.

His mother tragically dies of cancer, his once perfect world is turned upside down, and the coldhearted streets of Detroit couldn’t care less. Now, Lonnie McKay, homeless and alone, is caught up in the system at the mercy of others. Faced with women who could possibly help him but refuse to do so, he soon develops a vindictive dislike for every female with whom he comes in contact. Under the influence of anything he can take to get high, a delusional Lonnie sets no limits to what he’ll do to make these women pay - including murder.

Meet Adam and Summer, two teenagers who are about to discover the world is far stranger than they could ever imagine... After a series of unfortunate choices, the two find themselves living on the fringe of society. Not a bad place to be for two lost souls choosing to live anonymously in the shadows. Sadly, twisted characters tend to live in the shadows, too. Some even creep into their aimless lives, while others ignore them. Until one day something occurs to them... Only certain people can see them. Convinced they’re going insane, Adam and Summer fight to survive even while questioning ...

Doug Seegers left New York for Nashville in search of every songwriter's dream. When he didn't find success, he fell into a state of loneliness that fed an addiction he had battled since adolescence. Soon he was homeless, playing his guitar on the street with a cardboard sign asking for money. But then he cried out to God in repentance and need, and God graciously met him. Doug then found sobriety, regained some footing, and was discovered outside a food pantry by a Swedish musician and documentarian.

Troy Billings, at six-foot-one, 296 pounds, is standing at the edge of a subway platform, seriously contemplating suicide, when he meets Curt MacCrae - and emaciated, semi-homeless punk guitar genius who also happens to be a dropout legend at Troy's high school on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

When a homeless man rescues Glorilyn from a violent assault, he's not the man he seems. What powerful secret keeps him on the streets? When Glorilyn Neilson's nineteen-year-old brother, Tannon, goes missing without a trace, she's frantic. Prayer and volunteering at the local homeless shelter in El Camino must fill the time until her sibling returns. But her sapphire eyes and auburn hair inadvertently cause a stir among the male population at the center. Her life changes one evening when she's attacked by a burly vagrant intent on rape in the alley behind the building. Jeremiah Goodman loves...

Be honest. You don't see yourself as a judgmental person. But in my experience, many of us have deep-seated ideas of who the homeless are: alcoholics, addicts, people who are mentally ill or lazy, and criminals. Although these things may be true in some instances, this understanding overlooks the deep and rich character of many people who live in the homeless community. This book contains stories of some of my homeless friends, people who have meant a great deal to me and have profoundly changed my life for the better. Take time to hear their stories....

After a family tragedy results in the loss of both father and home, 12-year-old Nora lives with her mother in Manila’s North Cemetery, which is the largest shanty town of its kind in the Philippines today. When her mother disappears mysteriously one day, Nora is left alone. With help from her best friend, Jojo, and the support of his kindhearted grandmother, Nora embarks on a journey riddled with danger in order to find her mom. Along the way, she also rediscovers the compassion of the human spirit, the resilience of her community, and everlasting hope in the most unexpected places.

Alex Carissa is thrilled when her identical twin sister, Sam, and her husband move into the neighborhood. For Sam, years of infertility, followed by an unthinkable tragedy, have left her despairing of ever having a child. Money is tight, and IVF is expensive. Sam’s only hope may be to ask her sister to be a surrogate. Alex will do anything for Sam, but when the sisters embark upon an unorthodox route to surrogacy, jealousy, guilt, and legal complications soon follow.

Always think in threes and you'll never fall, Cora's father told her when she was a little girl. Two feet, one hand. Two hands, one foot. That was all Cora needed to know to climb the trees of Brooklyn. But now Cora is a middle schooler, a big sister, and homeless. Her mother is trying to hold the family together after her father's death, and Cora must look after her sister, Adare, who's just different, their mother insists. Quick to smile, Adare hates wearing shoes, rarely speaks, and appears untroubled by the question Cora can't help but ask: How will she find a place to call home?

Over 10 years ago, The Big Issue began to ask some of the best known, most interesting and most successful figures in entertainment, politics, food, sport and business to give advice, offer hope and share a few jokes with their younger selves. They opened up, in ways they never had, to interviewer Jane Graham, reflecting on their lives and themselves with affection, sympathy and sometimes disbelief.

Christmas is coming, and Jack Baker’s finances, friends, and future are as gone as last year’s holiday. One year ago, Jack Baker had it all - a beautiful family, a lucrative career, and a generous bonus to spend on the annual Baker family Christmas extravaganza. Now, the Bakers are homeless and clueless about what to do next. Amidst the holiday traditions and trappings, one family learns what is truly important when they lose all they have, and they still have everything.

Fortunately, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed into law a second round of stimulus checks for many Americans. That’s the good news. The bad news is that unfortunately, most homeless neighbors in your community do not even know they have a check coming or how they can get theirs. More importantly, they probably don’t know how to leverage their checks to change their lives. In the first round of 2020 stimulus, 69 percent of our homeless guests at the Warming Center in Grants Pass, Oregon, did not get their stimulus check or even know how to get theirs.

This book will finally give a face and a voice to those we so easily forget in our society. It will tell the highly personal, human and sometimes surprisingly uplifting stories of real people struggling in a crumbling system. By telling their stories, we will come to know these people; to know their hopes and fears, their complexities and their contradictions. We will learn a little more about human relationships, in all their messiness.