Publisher's Synopsis
***Shortlisted for the 2023 Orwell Prize for Reporting Homelessness***
***Winner of an RSL Giles St Aubyn Award for Non-Fiction***
'Part memoir, part howl of fury' GUARDIAN
'Enrich[es] our impoverished sociological imagination' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
'Raw and compelling' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Shows the human cost of a genuinely Kafka-esque bureaucratic system' NEW STATESMAN
At once a powerful memoir, unflinching polemic and probing investigation into modern homelessness in the UK, by award-winning investigative journalist Daniel Lavelle
Daniel Lavelle left care at the age of nineteen, and experienced homelessness for the first time not long after. So began a life spent navigating social services that were not fit for purpose, leaving Daniel and many like him slipping through the cracks.
In Down and Out, Daniel draws on his own experiences - as well as those of the witty, complex, hopeful individuals he has encountered who have been shunned or forgotten by the state that is supposed to provide for them - in order to shine a powerful light on this dire situation.
Down and Out is a true state-of-the-nation examination of modern homelessness: assessing its significance, its precursors and causes, as well as the role played by government, austerity, charities, and other systems in perpetuating this crisis. Ultimately, it seeks to ask how we as a society might change our practices and attitudes so that, one day, we can bring this injustice to an end.
More praise for Down and Out:
'Ruthless and raw ' DAVID LAMMY, author of TRIBES
'A vital voice . . . A book for every politician, policy maker and reader who wants a fairer and kinder country' FRANCES RYAN, author of CRIPPLED
'Anyone interested in homelessness should read this book' SIMON HATTENSTONE, journalist
'A valuable and damning personal tale of how the system fails our kids' EMILY KENWAY, author of THE TRUTH ABOUT MODERN SLAVERY
