Lewis - Home Truths

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Susan Lewis is the bestselling author of over forty books across the genres of family drama, thriller, suspense and crime. She is also the author of Just One More Day and One Day at a Time, the moving memoirs of her childhood in Bristol during the 1960s. Following periods of living in Los Angeles and the South of France, she currently lives in Gloucestershire with her husband, James, stepsons, Michael and Luke, and mischievous dogs, Coco and Lulu.

To find out more about Susan Lewis:

www.susanlewis.com

www.facebook.com/SusanLewisBooks

@susanlewisbooks

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My biggest thank you goes to Rachel Parfitt who contacted me out of the blue one day to share with me how much shed enjoyed my book Dance While You Can. During our email exchanges I learned a little about Rachels work with www.edgehousing.org which transitions homeless men from shelters to independent living. I asked if we could meet, and when I understood that her organisation provided homes and even a family for those who were trying to make their way back into the world, that was when this book was born. Over time, Rachel shared many stories with me that were both shocking and heartbreaking and I only wish Id been able to do justice to the many brave and lonely people she told me about. We all know these people exist, but perhaps we dont often think about those who do so much to help them.

My next thank you goes to Mike and Sally Zamparelli who run Wick House, a sheltered accommodation facility in Bristol that provides vital support for homeless men. Seeing the work thats carried out there was extremely moving and I came away much wiser and sadder for realizing how hard it is for shelters like theirs to survive.

Lastly, but perhaps most importantly, my sincere thanks go to those whove asked to remain nameless, but who so bravely shared their own stories of how they exist on benefits, and how some of them have ended up losing their homes. Their experiences were truly shattering to hear about and I feel on one level that Ive let them down with this book. There is no one there to make things all right for them, the way there is in these pages; their hardship and nightmares continue with no end in sight. However, this is a work of fiction and as such it can only highlight the misery and injustice many of our fellow citizens suffer at the hands of a system that is supposed to support them. Sadly, it cannot solve it.

No, Im not forgetting my amazing publishing team at HarperCollins I never could. Thank you so much to all of you, especially Kimberley Young, Kate Elton and Liz Stein for all the incredible energy and support youve put into this book. In steering me away from too much brutal reality I believe youve helped me to create a far more readable and hopeful story.

Fiction

A Class Apart

Dance While You Can

Stolen Beginnings

Darkest Longings

Obsession

Vengeance

Summer Madness

Last Resort

Wildfire

Cruel Venus

Strange Allure

The Mill House

A French Affair

Missing

Out of the Shadows

Lost Innocence

The Choice

Forgotten

Stolen

No Turning Back

Losing You

The Truth About You

Never Say Goodbye

Too Close to Home

No Place to Hide

The Secret Keeper

One Minute Later

Books that run in sequence

Chasing Dreams

Taking Chances

No Child of Mine

Dont Let Me Go

You Said Forever

Featuring Detective Andee Lawrence

Behind Closed Doors

The Girl Who Came Back

The Moment She Left

Hiding in Plain Sight

Believe in Me

Featuring Laurie Forbes and Elliott Russell

Silent Truths

Wicked Beauty

Intimate Strangers

The Hornbeam Tree

Memoirs

Just One More Day

One Day at a Time

Click here to buy now

Dont go! Please Oh God, no, please dont

I cant take any more, Angie. I swear If youd seen what I just have

Whatever it is

Our five-year-old son had a syringe in his hand, he raged, almost choking on the words.

Oh my God. Oh Steve

I need to find Liam, and when I do Im turning him in to the police along with every other one of those lowlife bastards

No! No!

He could still hear his wife screaming down the phone, begging him to stop as he tossed his mobile on to the passenger seat and steered the van, almost on two wheels, out of the street.

Hed had enough. He didnt care about the danger he was putting himself in, or what might happen after, he was too enraged for that. You bastard! How dare you Hes a child, for Gods sake The words circled endlessly through his head.

It took a while to get across town. He barely even saw the traffic, or the red lights that tried to delay him, as though giving him some time to think. He didnt want it. He was past thinking, past caring about anything other than the need to make this stop.

When he reached the hellish streets, the sore at the heart of the sprawling estate, he screeched to a halt on the infamous Colemead Lane and leapt out. He was so pumped with fury that his fists were already clenched, his muscles tensed for attack. His rationale had fled, along with his temper and sense of self-preservation.

He looked around, his eyes fierce. The mostly destitute houses with boarded-up windows and padlocked doors were as silent as graves. The tower blocks at the end with graffitied walls and urine-soaked stairwells rose drearily towards a patched grey sky. Even the pub looked deserted, its sign dangling from one hinge, its barred windows telling their own story.