Link is one of the NARRATORS of the story. He tells the story of his life - how he fell out with his step dad, how he ended up sleeping rough in London and his relationships with his friend Ginger and girlfriend Gail.
- He says that being homeless is like being ‘invisible’. (1)
- Leaving home is ‘sad and scary…heading into the unknown with nothing to protect you’ (3).
- When he first gets to London, he makes ‘loads of mistakes’ (18). He makes friends with Ginger, who helps him, but even so, ‘the last days of January were a swine’ (76).
- We can tell he is insecure and lonely because he worries that Ginger might leave him. When Ginger does disappear, he thinks it’s because he’s gone back to his ‘real mates’ (84).
- He decides then –‘don’t let anyone close’ (88) but he breaks this when Gail arrives. The time he spends with her is ‘so fantastic’ (99) but he starts getting ‘possessive’ (102) and not wanting to let her out of his sight.
- When he finds out the truth about Gail, he is furious, and says to her real boyfriend ‘I’ll ram that fozzing camera where the sun don’t shine.’ (130).
- At the end of the novel, he is bitter – Shelter has ‘a roof, a bed and three square meals’ (131) but he is still homeless.
- The last words of the novel are ironic – ‘it’s a free country, right?’ (132). The suggestion is it’s only a free country if you have money and a place to live.
