Every city has one, a crumbling dilapidated hotel on Main Street that somehow escapes the wrecking ball each year. But there is life behind the dingy windows and to those inside, the ancient building is home.

Theresa is a naïve legal secretary who is sent to the Wiltshire Hotel to inform the staff that the building is slated for demolition. Inside the dreary café, she is drawn into the broken lives of the hotel's only resident, Walter, and his rag-tag assortment of homeless friends.

Perry, the scheming hotel manager, sees Theresa as easy prey and presents her with a phoney business proposition. Tired of living in a tiny north Winnipeg home with her husband's extended family, Theresa is desperate to find a way out for herself, her husband and their three-year-old son. She believes Perry's plan is her ticket out of her in-laws basement and wagers not only her savings, but her family's future as well.

Bettina Von Kampen's profile page

Bettina von Kampen grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba where she attended the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba, receiving degrees in Art History, Physiotherapy and a Masters of Science. She has lived in Canada's east, west, north and south - including Rankin Inlet, Nunavut - and now lives in London, Ontario. Her first novel, Blue Becomes You (Great Plains Publications, 2003) was a finalist for the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award.

"A charming and compassionate story with well-drawn characters."&nbsp- Winnipeg Free Press