The After Wards

«Funny, Sweet, Fragile, Telling and True.» — Mark Gatiss (Showrunner, BBC's “Sherlock”)
When a pregnant teenage care leaver is mistaken for the proprietor of a run down hotel, she attempts to turn it into a sanctuary for others like her… but soon finds that she's created a lawless melting pot of fraud, dirty money, and hallucinogenic drugs.
Initially, Jac embraces the opportunity to reopen the hotel for business and masquerade as its manager, roping in other care leavers as her staff… including her infamously wayward ex, Sky Spargo.
But when a dark secret reemerges from the hotel's distant past and the pseudo-family she's created starts to crumble as fast as the hotel's ancient guttering, Jac realises her decision to lie has proven to be a catalyst that will change everything: the town, her friends, and the way the world will see them forever…
Drawn from lived experiences, the debut novel from author and screenwriter Pete Jordi Wood (Channel 4's “I Don't Care” and BBC "EastEnders”) explores the harsh realities of Post-Industrial Cornwall's Care Leavers with humour and heart. Jac, Zenobia, Mason and Sky may not have much in the way of "family”, but atleast they've got each other as they age out, come out, and act out respectively. Adulthood ain't so bad… there's only one problem: no one got the memo about how freakin' dangerous the new Millennium was gonna turn out to be.
And not one of them is at all prepared to face it.
Note: this novel deals with sensitive subjects such as murder, drug use, sexuality, abuse, teenage pregancy and includes a whole bunch of swear words — it is therefore recommend for older readers aged fifteen and up.