In 1987 a massive snowstorm hits New York as Peter Kaldheim flees the city, owing drug debts to a dealer who is no stranger to casual violence.

Leaving behind his chaotic past, Kaldheim hits the road, living hand-to-mouth in flop-houses, pan-handling with his fellow itinerants. As he makes his way across America in search of a new life, the harsh reality of vagrancy forces him to face up to his past, from his time in Rikers prison, to relationships lost and lamented.

Kaldheim hikes and buses through an America rarely seen, and his encounters with a disparate collection of characters instils in him a new empathy and wisdom, as he journeys on a road less travelled.

"A warm-hearted and witty mix of Jack Kerouac's On The Road and George Orwell's Down and Out In Paris and London" - * The Times *

"Although it is a memoir set in the Reagan years, the milieu still feels so contemporary . . . For those vulnerable and stranded in the US, certain things appear to have remained unchanged" - * Guardian *

"Peter Kaldheim's honesty and optimistic persistence in every circumstance make for a powerful and compelling narrative . . . Idiot Wind provides a unique and important insight into homelessness in the US and is engaging from start to finish" - * The Skinny *

"Idiot Wind recounts Kaldheim's very human efforts to swim to shore with compassion and gratitude" - * NPR *

"A very readable, even superior, addition to the addiction memoir genre" - * Library Journal *

"Compelling and gutsy" - * Brinkwire *