Last Ditch House - Tapa blanda

At the end of his bestselling debut, Wednesday's Child, Shane Dunphy was burnt out, and wrote of leaving his job as a child protection worker. But he returned to the profession he loved, and in Last Ditch House he revisits four more cases from his childcare days, using a technique similar to the first book. The narrative is set a year after Wednesday's Child and tells of a summer spent working with four unusual cases for a voluntary child-protection group. Last Ditch House is more complex, richer and a little darker than its predecessor and Shane Dunphy has consciously given more of himself this time, going into his own motivations and feelings in greater detail. The cases recounted here are those of four children from very different aspects of Irish society, each with a unique story to tell. Once again, Shane Dunphy draws on the real-life experience of fifteen years working in child protection, and while these events did not, in reality, happen concurrently, he has woven them together to create a non-fiction book that has the pace, atmosphere and dialogue of a thriller. Yet everything recounted here really happened. These stories - shocking, heart-breaking and inspiring - are all true.

Shane Dunphy worked in social care, and specifically as a child care worker, for over fifteen years. During this time he worked extensively with children and their families. He is widely recognised as one of the leading experts in child protection in Ireland and is a regular contributor to television, radio and print on the subject. Deeply moving and often harrowing, his writing provides a thought-provoking insight into the lives of some of the families who live within the social care system. His books have achieved critical acclaim nationwide. Wednesday's Child was his first book and other books include Crying in the Dark, Hush, Little Baby, TheBoy in the Cupboard, Will Mummy Be Coming Back for Me?, Little Boy Lost and The Girl Who Couldn't Smile.