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by Simon Longman

As recommended by Michael: "Teenage loner Mike has a crush on tough, street-smart Sarah who lives over the road. His older brother Ben hates his job at the petrol station and longs to get away whilst their depressed mother Deb sits all day on the sofa, staring blankly at the TV, there yet not there, whilst their father is nowhere to be found. A melancholy, touching drama about the struggling and left behind, Longman writes poignantly about those stuck in small towns far from the bright lights of the big city, but he does so with dashes of humour, love and ultimately even hope."

Mike is a 16-year-old with a bully of a brother and a mum who doesn't speak. Sarah is a weed-smoking teen who can't wait to get out of their dead-end town. One hot summer their lives collide in a blur of hormones, loneliness and dreaming as they discover that growing up is just as confusing as they say.

Funny, poignant and sharply reminiscent of the joy, pain and confusion of growing up, Rails explores what it means to feel lonely in a forgotten and isolated corner of the world. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Theatre By the Lake in Keswick in May 2018.