Just a Small Town

Four young people fight to survive the streets, in this gritty novella about those left behind: "Compulsive reading." --Mick Finlay, author of the Arrowood mysteries Industry is in decline. The streets are in decay. Many have gone--while those who remain seek escape in drugs. Alex consumes heroin to forget his abusive father. Jim hides from guilt about the friend he didn't save. Chelsi's brother killed a local boy, and ostracism pushes her toward a rival gang, prostitution, and loneliness. Danny is a hustler, but needs protection from the drug gang that supplies him. Can any of them endure against the odds in a town that could be anywhere in a world of addiction, crime, isolation, and manipulation? Debut author Paul Linggood raises challenging questions about a society that has become increasingly violent, in this novella of gripping suspense and gut-wrenching realism. "Each helpless soul, from the middle-aged labourers down the pub, to the hustling teenagers . . . are woven together by one common denominator." --Stephen Scarcliffe, author of the Chemical Estate series "Brings a feral world to life." --Helen Marshall, author of The Migration