Seeking Shelter - by Jeff Hobbs (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In the tradition of Evicted and Invisible Child, Jeff Hobbs masterfully explores America's housing crisis through the real-life story of Evelyn. This is Hobbs's first book since The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace that focuses on a single character and her extraordinarily illuminating journey. In 2018, poverty and domestic violence cast Evelyn and her children into the urban wilderness of Los Angeles, where she avoids the family crisis network that offers no clear pathway for her children to remain together and in a decent school. For the next five years, Evelyn works full time as a waitress yet remains unable to afford legitimate housing or qualify for government aid. All the while she strives to provide stability, education, loving memories, and college aspirations for her children even as they sleep in motels and in her car, living in fear of both her ex and the nation's largest child welfare agency. Eventually Evelyn encounters Wendi Gaines, a recently trained social worker who decades earlier survived her own abusive marriage and housing crisis. Evelyn becomes one of Wendi's first clients, and the relationship transforms them both. Told from the perspectives of Evelyn, Wendi, and Evelyn's teenaged son, Orlando, Seeking Shelter is a powerful and urgent exploration of the issues of homelessness, poverty, and education in America-a must-read for anyone interested in understanding not just social inequality and economic disparity in our society but also the power of a mother's love and vision for her kids."--

Book Synopsis

From the bestselling author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, a powerful portrayal of American homelessness that follows a single mother of six in Los Angeles courageously struggling to keep her family together and her children in school amidst the devastating housing crisis.

In the tradition of Evicted and Invisible Child, Jeff Hobbs masterfully explores America's housing crisis through the real-life story of Evelyn. This is Hobbs's first book since The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace that focuses on a single character and her extraordinarily illuminating journey.

In 2018, poverty and domestic violence cast Evelyn and her children into the urban wilderness of Los Angeles, where she avoids the family crisis network that offers no clear pathway for her children to remain together and in a decent school. For the next five years, Evelyn works full time as a waitress yet remains unable to afford legitimate housing or qualify for government aid. All the while she strives to provide stability, education, loving memories, and college aspirations for her children even as they sleep in motels and in her car, living in fear of both her ex and the nation's largest child welfare agency. Eventually Evelyn encounters Wendi Gaines, a recently trained social worker who decades earlier survived her own abusive marriage and housing crisis. Evelyn becomes one of Wendi's first clients, and the relationship transforms them both.

Told from the perspectives of Evelyn, Wendi, and Evelyn's teenaged son, Orlando, Seeking Shelter is a powerful and urgent exploration of the issues of homelessness, poverty, and education in America--a must-read for anyone interested in understanding not just social inequality and economic disparity in our society but also the power of a mother's love and vision for her kids.

Review Quotes

"[A] moving, real-life saga . . . the narrative unfolds with gripping immediacy. . . . Though Evelyn is undeniably a victim of corrupt systems, she possesses a resilience that makes her story nothing short of heroic." --The New Yorker

"Hobbs' gripping and deeply empathetic narrative nonfiction, Seeking Shelter, follows Evelyn and [her six] children as they sink into homelessness--often sleeping packed into their aging SUV--and then gradually resurface. . . . Evelyn's story explores those issues in intimate and unflinching detail." --LA Daily News

"Hobbs respectfully illustrates the desperation of America's housing crisis through the lens of one woman trying to do her best for her family." --Washington Post

"Seeking Shelter is remarkably vivid and detailed, as well as deeply empathetic. . . . [Hobbs] doesn't just recount events; he confidently probes his characters' psyches, parsing their motivations and emotions. . . . Hobbs' great gift lies in immersing readers in his narrative, keeping us rooting for his subjects despite their missteps." --Los Angeles Times

"A mom struggles to keep a roof over her family's head in this poignant saga. . . . It's an eye-opening look at how the housing crisis extends far beyond what's visible on the streets." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"An account of homelessness and precarity as seen through the eyes of a woman and her family. . . . [A] work of advocacy journalism that points to the endless obstacles attendant in helping those in need." --Kirkus Reviews

"This modern-day horror story is a heartbreaking account of an unhoused family attempting to navigate American municipal, employment, and education systems. . . . [A] compelling read with richly drawn characters . . . this is both an indictment of overwhelmed social services and a quietly optimistic celebration of resilience." --Booklist

"This book is a remarkable and urgent call for empathy in an increasingly divided and unjust country. With deep reporting and novelistic writing, Jeff Hobbs made me both understand and feel America's homelessness crisis like never before. I'll be thinking about Evelyn and Orlando for a very long time." --Eli Saslow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Rising Out of Hatred

"A gut-wrenching page turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat, praying for the survival of a singular family--and the millions of Americans like them. In Seeking Shelter, Jeff Hobbs exposes the scourge of homelessness that's tearing apart working families. This book is a new classic that's perfect for fans of Random Family." --Emi Nietfeld, author of Acceptance: A Memoir

About the Author

Jeff Hobbs is the author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was made into the 2024 film Rob Peace. He is also the author of Show Them You're Good and Children of the State. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.