Without a Net: Middle Class and Homeless (with Kids) in America

The shocking story of a suburban mother's plunge into homelessness. Michelle Kennedy had a typical middle-class American childhood in Vermont. She attended college, interned for the U.S. Senate, married her high school sweetheart, and settled in the suburbs of D.C. But the comfortable life she was building quickly fell apart. At age twenty-four Michelle was suddenly single, homeless, and living out of a car with her three small children. She waitressed night shifts while her kids slept out in the restaurant's parking lot. She saved her tips in the glove compartment, and set aside a few quarters every week for truck stop showers for her and the kids. With startling humor and honesty, Kennedy describes the frustration of never having enough money for a security deposit on an apartment - but having to much to qualify for public assistance. Without a Net is the story of hope. Michelle Kennedy survived on her wits, a little luck, and a lot of courage. And, in the end, she triumphs.