cover206745-mediumFrom Goodreads: “She’s always looking on the bright side…
Dawn Elisabeth Brightside has been running from her past for twenty-two years and two months, precisely.
So when she is offered a bed in St Jude’s Hostel for the Homeless, it means so much more than just a roof over her head.
But with St Jude’s threatened with closure, Dawn worries that everything is about to crumble around her all over again.
Perhaps, with a little help from her new friends, she can find a way to save this light in the darkness?
And maybe, just maybe, Dawn will finally have a place to call home….”

Available from Audible

My Review

This was a fabulous audiobook, a real feel good listen, with a wonderful cast of characters that I cared about and wanted the best for.

The story is told by Dawn Brightside a new resident at St. Jude’s and by Grace the manager of the hostel. Both women have back stories from their childhoods and adult lives which are revealed as the story progresses. I loved both characters, but Dawn has found a special place in my heart because of her sunny personality. Grace has to work at being positive whereas it just comes naturally to Dawn.

I loved meeting all the different residents of the hostel and how they all came together to try and save the hostel from closure. I could imagine this being made into a film, as they were some key scenes that would transfer so well to the screen.

Although this story deals with a myriad of serious issues, homelessness, alcoholism, drug addict, child neglect, mental illness and assault, it’s not depressing at all. It’s a wonderful book full of  characters who felt like real people. It shone an important light on the hidden lives of homeless people who need a hand and need to be treated like humans so they can get their lives back on track.

The narration by Joan Walker was great, a new-to-me narrator who I’ll definitely be on the look out for in the future. She brought Dawn, Grace and all the other characters to life perfectly.

This is definitely my one of favourite listens this year, and I highly recommend it if you enjoy feel good contemporary fiction.

Thanks so to NetGalley and HQ  for my digital copy via the NetGalley App.