No Fixed Abode

Life and Death Among the UK's Forgotten Homeless

By: Maeve McClenaghan

Narrated by: Maeve McClenaghan

‘A sensitive exposé that illustrates the complexities of modern homelessness. Moving, poetic and as rousing as Orwell’ – Cash Carraway, author of Skint Estate

‘Urgent, gripping and devastating’ – The Secret Barrister

This book will finally give a face and a voice to those we so easily forget in our society. It will tell the highly personal, human and sometimes surprisingly uplifting stories of real people struggling in a crumbling system. By telling their stories, we will come to know these people; to know their hopes and fears, their complexities and their contradictions. We will learn a little more about human relationships, in all their messiness. And we’ll learn how, with just a little too much misfortune, any of us could find ourselves homeless, even become one of the hundreds of people dying on Britain’s streets.

As the number of rough sleepers skyrockets across the UK, No Fixed Abode by Maeve McClenaghan will also bring to light many of the ad-hoc projects attempting to address the problem. You will meet some of the courageous people who dedicate their lives to saving the forgotten of our society and see that the smallest act of kindness or affection can save a life.

This is a timely and important book encompassing wider themes of inequality and austerity measures; through the prism of homelessness, it offers a true picture of Britain today – and shows how terrifyingly close to breaking point we really are.

Critic reviews

A conscience-pricking look at the reality of life on Britain’s streets . . . No Fixed Abode couldn’t be more illuminating, timely and urgent.

Urgent, gripping and devastating (The Secret Barrister)

Compelling, compassionate and hard-hitting . . . It tells a very important story in a human way and in doing so motivates the reader to demand change. It is a campaigning book of the very highest order (Eoin Ó Broin)

An urgent, searing examination of our homelessness crisis . . . a much-needed antidote to the apathy that can often surround homelessness. It is movingly told, passionately argued and totally engrossing

A sensitive exposé that illustrates the complexities of modern homelessness. Moving, poetic and as rousing as Orwell. (Cash Carraway, author of Skint Estate)

A story that desperately needed to be told (Michael Sheen)

An incredible journalist. Her work on homelessness in the UK is vital and urgent . . . Maeve’s book gives space to the stories of those at the sharp end of the housing crisis. She treats them as people, not numbers. (Vicky Spratt)

‘A meticulous investigation exposes the shameful truths surrounding the UK’s homeless population . . . moving and revealing . . . McClenaghan does a good job of bringing to life the stories of the people she describes’ (Harry Stopes)

An important strength of the book is the respectful way it treats homeless people.

I sat down and wept . . . A challenging and compassionate investigation into British homelessness . . . McClenaghan writes with the pace and clarity you’d expect of an award-winning investigative reported chasing a lead