Overview

In the tradition of Evicted and Invisible Child, a ""moving, real-life saga"" (The New Yorker) that follows a single mother of six in Los Angeles courageously struggling to keep her family together and her children in school amid the devastating housing crisis--from the bestselling author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. In 2018, poverty and domestic violence cast Evelyn and her children into the urban wilderness of Los Angeles, where she avoids the family crisis network that offers no clear pathway for her children to remain together and in a decent school. For the next five years, Evelyn works full time as a waitress--yet remains unable to afford legitimate housing or qualify for government aid. All the while, she delivers her children to school every day and strives to provide them with loving memories and college aspirations. Eventually Evelyn encounters Wendi, a recently trained social worker who, decades earlier, survived her own relationship trauma and housing crisis. Evelyn becomes one of Wendi's first clients, and the relationship transforms them both. Told from the perspectives of Evelyn, Wendi, and Evelyn's teenaged son Orlando, Seeking Shelter is a ""remarkably vivid and...deeply empathetic"" (Los Angeles Times) exploration of homelessness, poverty, and education in America--a must-read for anyone interested in understanding not just social inequality and economic disparity in our society but also the power of a mother's love and vision for her kids.

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9781668034828

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Reviews

""A gut-wrenching page turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat, praying for the survival of a singular family--and the millions of Americans like them. In Seeking Shelter, Jeff Hobbs exposes the scourge of homelessness that's tearing apart working families. This book is a new classic that's perfect for fans of Random Family."" --Emi Nietfeld, author of Acceptance: A Memoir

""This book is a remarkable and urgent call for empathy in an increasingly divided and unjust country. With both deep reporting and novelistic writing, Jeff Hobbs made me both understand and feel America's homelessness crisis like never before. I'll be thinking about Evelyn and Orlando for a very long time."" --Eli Saslow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Rising Out of Hatred ""A gut-wrenching page turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat, praying for the survival of a singular family--and the millions of Americans like them. In Seeking Shelter, Jeff Hobbs exposes the scourge of homelessness that's tearing apart working families. This book is a new classic that's perfect for fans of Random Family."" --Emi Nietfeld, author of Acceptance: A Memoir

Author Information

Jeff Hobbs is the New York Times bestselling author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award in Biography, was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal in nonfiction, and was made into the 2024 film Rob Peace. He is also the author of Show Them You're Good and Children of the State. He lives in Los Angeles with his family.

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