Ruby Slippers

Old Rosa the bag lady shuffles along the streets of New York, stinking, silent and shunned by man and beast. Time and again her nephew, Michael Marcinkus the grocer, has tried to help – but Rosa remains unknowable, hushed inside her hulk.

On the day of the St Patrick’s Day Parade, Rosa is in a terrible accident. While she lies in hospital, Mr Marcinkus visits her squalid apartment and unearths so...