slavetothepen

A novel of rough-sleeping in London

New Year’s Eve, outside a nightclub, journalist Simon Peckham watches as paramedics attend to Tom, an old rough sleeper. The next morning at the Royal London Hospital, Simon inquires after Tom’s condition and meets a young woman he’d noticed in the club. Soraya tells him that both she and the old rough sleeper had been assaulted and that a second rough sleeper had come to their rescue. In the alley behind the club, Simon finds Tom’s meagre possessions and stumbles across a notebook, which provides him with a clue to the identity of the second man. When Tom dies, Simon attends the inquest. The police believe the old man’s injuries were caused by a fall, until Soraya steps forward to tell the coroner she’d witnessed the assault. However, she fails to mention the second rough sleeper and Simon wants to know why.

A novel of a rough sleeper, a young refugee and a young reporter.

Why is the daughter of an Iraqi refugee protecting a rough sleeper? And what drives a former Royal Marine to surrender to the streets?