Hope House

I dont know about that, sir. Were delinquents, said Damico. If you give us an inch, well take the whole mile.Watts laughed us off.All Im saying is theres things we can do different. Im talking about you fellas helping me get this right. What do you think?They came from the streets, the sticks, and every place in between. Theyve stolen cars, dealt dope and hurt people. Theyve been hurt themselves. Theyve been labelled delinquents and cast out from their families if they ever had a family at all. Their futures promise prison - or worse - but for now, theyve been brought together to live in an old house on a hill, and see about getting themselves - and each other - right.Spirited, angry, confused, and misled, these are the boys of Hope House, an institution for delinquent young men in s Kentucky. There is Smoove, named for his distinctive walk after he was shot in both feet back home in Louisville. Theres Damico, reported for shoplifting and assault, even though that was only part of the story. Theres Bobby, who tells brave tales of adventures of coyotes but goes quiet at the thought of his father. And theres Awol, who cant stop running away, only to return to the place he knows best.Deeply honest and soulful, Hope House is a novel about searching for belonging and lifting each other up about coming of age into a society thats already closed its doors about lost boys who grapple with their pasts, dare to imagine different futures, and nurture the almost outrageous hope that they might just turn everything around.A stunningly beautiful debut a novel of life on the margins, written with style and grace, and populated with characters that stay with you long after the final page Tom Newlands, author of Only Here, Only NowThis beautifully told novel, heartbreaking and heart-healing, illuminates what it means to call a place home Kim Edwards, author of The Memory Keepers DaughterA beautiful novel of such tender frankness, building the lives of this group of kids with bottomless care and a fiercely keen eye for detail and movement Aimee Bender, author of The Butterfly Lampshade