The Kindness of Strangers

The old adage 'What goes around comes around' is at the very centre of this book. It is essentially a story of hope and victory over a variety of problems and difficulties which have blighted the lives of our heroes and heroines for most, if not all, of their lives. The first person we meet is Lizzie, a young girl forced to run away from home to escape the consequences of her abusive step-father's not so veiled threats. Having managed to get a job and bedsit, she has just been surviving, until she loses her job. Despite selling everything she can, the threat of eviction hangs over her. Knowing she will never be safe at home, and with nowhere else to go, she is driven through desperation, hunger and cold to contemplate suicide. Just one misdialled phone call, - one which results in an act of supreme kindness and generosity, - is sufficient to turn her life around, giving it both direction and promise. This one event is the catalyst which starts a chain reaction, - as kindnesses, empathies and favours are passed baton-like between the central characters in the book. Some of their troubles and traumas have been so severe that they have shaped their whole lives. Others have problems which are more short lived, but all have suffered loss, grief or fractured family relationships as a result of them. All it takes is a little interest and a fresh perspective to give hope and solutions. Amazingly the book ends where it began with Lizzie as the kindnesses come full circle. In a world where people are all too concerned with self and the only news we hear is depressing or downright terrifying, this book brings with it a ray of sunshine. It proves without being overly sentimental or mawkish that kindness passed around brings many positive outcomes. The simplest act of generosity can have far-reaching effects for both the giver and the receiver.