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The Lost and the Found

A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family and Second Chances

Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 18 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 18 weeks
In the tradition of Stephanie Land and Matthew Desmond, a powerful and deeply reported narrative of homelessness, despair, and hope.
Kevin Fagan's The Lost and the Found, set in San Francisco—one of the wealthiest cities in America—takes an empathic, character-driven approach to exploring the human side of what's behind the homelessness epidemic.

An award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize nominee who has covered homelessness for decades and spent extensive time on the streets for his reporting, Fagan experienced it himself as a young man and brings a deep understanding to the crisis. He introduces us to Rita and Tyson, telling the deeply moving story of two unhoused people rescued by their families with the help of Fagan's reporting, and their struggle to pull themselves out of homelessness and addiction, ending with both enormous tragedy and triumph.

But The Lost and the Found is not just a story of individuals experiencing homelessness, it is also a compelling look at the link between homelessness and addiction, and an incisive commentary on housing and equality. Fagan shines a sharp light on this national calamity, and in sharing Rita and Tyson's stories, The Lost and the Found has the potential to change the way we see and help the homeless.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 9, 2024
      Seeking to put a human face on the homelessness crisis, San Francisco Chronicle reporter Fagan took to his city’s streets to experience the lifestyle firsthand. In this riveting account, he describes camping out on a concrete median nicknamed “Homeless Island” by those who sleep there, forming close-knit relationships with Rita, a former surfer girl now in her 50s, and Tyson, a young man suffering from undiagnosed bipolar disorder. In detailing their stories, Fagan traces the uniquely American slippery slope that leads to homelessness—a combination of high rents, precarious employment, drug addiction, lack of mental health care, a penchant for free-spiritedness verging on stubbornness, and a commitment to individual responsibility that wears away at family ties. Rita, a mother of four, always rebellious by nature, as an adult fell into a bohemian lifestyle in the Florida Keys that eventually led to drug addiction. Tyson, raised middle-class, had an erratic personality that left him floating from job to job, eventually ending up on his grandmother’s couch until she passed away. In an emotional turn, Fagan reports that after publishing profiles on Rita and Tyson, he was contacted by their siblings, who were eager to help. Fagan then chronicles Rita’s and Tyson’s passages through rehab, halfway houses, and on to what seem to be successful new beginnings. The result is a haunting proposal that the homelessness crisis is caused above all by a startling lack of compassion in American society.

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

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