Overview Of The Book

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After Sarah graduated sum cum lade from The University of Tennessee with a degree in journalism, her plan was to be a news anchor, but in the silence of the night, when she laid her head down to rest, all she could think about was the homeless individuals that hung around her college campus. She felt a yearning in her heart to know them, but she couldn’t comprehend why?

 

The next day, Sarah decided to talk to the first homeless person she passed on her way to class. It was a man she would never forget. A piece of tin foil sat on top of his head like a baseball cap. He wore an oversized white t-shirt splattered with dirt stains that hung over a pair of saggy brown pants. Next to his worn-in combat boots was a sack of clothes in a filthy trash bag. He waved the air around him like there were flies in front of his face, but there was nothing there. 

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Right then, the man turned to look at Sarah. Like a lighting bolt flashing through her, she knew exactly why she was drawn to these people. The piercing look of confusion in the man's eyes glazed over by a glossy stare was the exact look her mother gave her when she had an episode. Sarah was raised by her mentally ill mother who went undiagnosed with schizoaffective disorder for 50 years. Out of shame and guilt her mother's behavior was her fault, she silenced herself about the pain stirring through her home until now. 

 

After graduation, Sarah took a drastic turn in her career and spent a year of her life with the homeless individuals on the streets of Knoxville, Tennessee with a burning desire to know how they came to be without a home as a deep fear dwelled inside her that this could have been her life too.