User:Cryanhyde

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of the following in-print titles:

CHASING WINDMILLS

About this Book:

Catherine Ryan Hyde, bestselling author of Pay It Forward, returns with a provocative tour de force on first love—a modern-day rendering of West Side Story born on a New York City subway car and nurtured under the windmills of the Mojave Desert.

The subway doors open and close, and in one moment Sebastian’s and Maria’s lives are changed forever. Rendered in Catherine Ryan Hyde’s stirring and evocative prose, CHASING WINDMILLS is a poignant love story that will leave you yearning for a subway ride that is a fraction as enchanting.

Letting go becomes the purest expression of love in this extraordinary novel by the bestselling author of Pay It Forward, Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Both Sebastian and Maria live in a world ruled by fear. Sebastian, a lonely seventeen-year-old, is suffocating under his dominant father’s control. In the ten years since his mother passed away, his father has kept him “safe” by barely allowing him out of their apartment. Sebastian’s secret late-night subway rides are rare acts of rebellion. another is a concealed friendship with his neighbor Delilah, who encourages him to question his father’s version of reality. Soon it becomes unclear whether even his mother’s death was a lie.

Maria, a young mother of two, is trying to keep peace at home despite her boyfriend’s abuse. When she loses her job, she avoids telling him by riding the subways during her usual late-night shift. She knows her sister, Stella, is right: She needs to “live in the truth” and let the chips fall where they may. But she still hasn’t been able to bring herself to do it. And soon he will expect her paycheck to arrive.

When Sebastian and Maria wind up on the same train, their eyes meet across the subway car, and these two strangers find a connection that neither can explain or ignore. Together they dream of a new future, agreeing to run away and find Sebastian’s grandmother in the Mojave Desert. But Maria doesn’t know Sebastian is only seventeen. And Sebastian doesn’t know Maria has children until the moment they leave. Ultimately, Maria brings one child, her daughter. Can she really leave her little boy behind? And, if not, what will it cost her to face her furious jilted abuser?

In this tremendously moving novel, Catherine Ryan Hyde shows us how two people trapped by life’s circumstances can break free and find a place in the world where love is genuine and selfless.

"Simple and captivating." --Publishers Weekly

"...A page-turning read and the distinct voices are sweet, soul-baring, and honest." --School Library Journal

"A gentle tale centering on how people come to grip with their pasts." --Kirkus

THE YEAR OF MY MIRACULOUS REAPPEARANCE

Category: Juvenile Fiction - Social Situations - Drugs, Alcohol, Substance Abuse; Juvenile Fiction - Family Format: Hardcover, 240 pages On Sale: March 27, 2007 Price: $15.99 ISBN: 978-0-375-83257-4 (0-375-83257-2)

ABOUT THIS BOOK:

Cynnie takes care of herself—and more importantly, she takes care of her little brother, Bill. So it doesn't matter that her mom is drunk all the time. Cynnie's got her own life. Cynnie's the one Bill loves more than anyone. Cynnie's the real mother in the house. And if there's one thing she knows for sure, it's that she'll never, ever sink as low as her mother.

But when things start to fall apart, Cynnie needs a way to dull the pain.

Never say never.

This unflinching look at the power of addiction is the story of one girl's fall into darkness—and the strength, trust, and forgiveness it takes to climb back out again.

"This book is very close to perfect. It's hard for me to imagine anyone feeling too grown-up for this story." --The Phildelphia Inquirer

"By portraying Cynnie realistically but sympathetically, Hyde offers a gritty subject without making the story gritty. Always heartfelt, often suspenseful, the work stays appropriate for its target audience. Few such regeneration books have the capacity to actually reach young people trapped in addiction; this one might." --Kirkus

LOVE IN THE PRESENT TENSE U.S.

Paperback: 272 pages Publisher: Vintage (July 10, 2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 0307276716 ISBN-13: 978-0307276711

From the bestselling author of Pay It Forward comes a moving novel about the bond between a five year old abandoned by his mother and the man who raises him.

After accidentally killing a police office five years ago, Pearl has managed to protect her bright, frail young son Leonard from her violent past. Then one day, Pearl drops him off with their neighbor Mitch, and never returns. Mitch is far from the ideal caretaker--he’s having an affair with a client’s wife--but he and Leonard must find a way to bridge the gap between them as they bond as parent and child.Gritty but big-hearted, Love in the Present Tense is an inspiring story of love and the surprising forms it can take.

“A beautifully rendered tale about the power of love.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“If you love Pay It Forward, The Notebook and The Five People You'll Meet in Heaven, this novel will envelop you like a fuzzy blanket.” —USA Today

“Using spare, simple prose, Hyde explores the nuances of love. . . . Arresting.” —The Charlotte Observer

“An enthralling take on the enduring bonds of family.” —Life

LOVE IN THE PRESENT TENSE U.K.

Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Black Swan (14 Jan 2007) Language English ISBN-10: 0552773646 ISBN-13: 978-0552773645

Mitch is a 25-year-old with commitment issues. Leonard is a five-year-old kid with asthma and vision problems, who captivates everyone he meets. Pearl is Leonard's teenage mother, who's trying to hide a violent secret from her past. Life has given Pearl every reason to mistrust people, but circumstances force her to trust her neighbour, Mitch. Then one day, with a heart full of agony, Pearl drops Leonard off with Mitch and never returns. Pearl, Leonard and Mitch each have a story to tell and as their lives unfold, profound questions arise about the nature of love and family. How do you go on loving someone who isn't there? With Leonard's absolute conviction in 'forever love' always present, Leonard and Mitch grow up side by side and piece together the layered truths and fictions of their almost magical lives. The answers are heartbreaking, but ultimately triumphant.

From the Back Cover ‘So much of how it was started when that cop got out…. But I didn’t know all this when it first happened. I didn’t know there would ever be a Leonard, or that this man would be his father, or that anyone would have to die…’

Leonard is an eerily wise five-year-old boy with asthma, terrible eyesight, and the ability to captivate everyone he meets.

Pearl is Leonard's devoted teenage mother, desperately trying to hide a violent secret from her past.

Mitch is Leonard’s 25-year-old next-door neighbour, busy running his own company and entertaining the Mayor’s wife.

Then one day Pearl drops Leonard off with Mitch, and never returns.

How do you go on loving someone who isn’t there? As truth and fiction, memory and dreams collide, Mitch finds himself learning from a surprising source the true, magical definition of love.

See reviews above

BECOMING CHLOE

Category: Juvenile Fiction - Social Situations - Runaways; Juvenile Fiction - People & Places - United States Format: Trade Paperback, 224 pages On Sale: November 11, 2008 Price: $8.99 ISBN: 978-0-375-83260-4 (0-375-83260-2)

ABOUT THIS BOOK Meet Jordy. He’s on his own in New York City. Nobody to depend on; nobody depending on him. And it’s been working fine. Until this girl comes along. She’s 18 and blond and pretty–her world should be perfect. But she’s seen things no one should ever see in their whole life–the kind of things that break a person. She doesn’t seem broken, though. She seems . . . innocent. Like she doesn’t know a whole lot. Only sometimes she does. The one thing she knows for sure is that the world is an ugly place. Now her life may depend on Jordy proving her wrong. So they hit the road to discover the truth–and there’s no going back from what they find out. This deeply felt, redemptive novel reveals both the dark corners and hidden joys of life’s journey–and the remarkable resilience of the human soul.

"Tender, amazingly hopeful...What is gorgeous...is their search and their response to the world, to living creatures and to each other, reminding readers of how many different names there are for love. Vibrant and heartbreaking." --Kirkus

"Deeply affecting...This is eloquent storytelling about how two troubled teens find redemption—through each other." --Publishers Weekly

"The writing is always smart, brisk and witty, and the dialogue is sharply conceived and entertaining. This is a major book that is being under-promoted. It is an adult novel with heart, wit, adorable characters and a lot to say about the meaning of life." --Deseret News

PAY IT FORWARD U.K.

Black Swan • General & literary fiction Publication Date: 08/10/2007 • 368 pages • 198 x 127 mm • ISBN: 0552774251 Territory: UK C/Wealth ex Can • EAN: 9780552774253

It all started with a school project:

Think of an idea for world change, and put it into action

Whilst this proved a little ambitious for most of his classmates, twelve-year-old Trevor thought he could start by doing something good for three people. But instead of paying him back, he would ask them to ‘pay it forward’ by doing a favour for three more people. If it all went to plan, Trevor thought, it would be the start of a long chain of human kindness . . .

Sound unlikely? Well a lot of other people had their doubts too – Trevor’s teacher, his classmates, his mother, in fact everyone in his small California town. It could never really work. . . could it?

"Catherine Ryan Hyde accomplishes a very difficult job, with an easy, beneficent wisdom about the ways of the world" --Chicago Tribune

"Heartwarming, funny, and bittersweet . . . A quiet, steady masterpiece with an incandescent ending" --Kirkus Reviews

"The philosophy behind this book is so intriguing, and the optimism so contagious . . . a book that lingers long after the last page is turned." --Denver Post

"Hyde's book delivers a profound vision: The simple magic of the human heart." --San Francisco Chronicle

PAY IT FORWARD U.S.

Pocket, October 2000 Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages ISBN-10: 0-7434-1202-8 ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-1202-5

It all started with the social studies teacher's extra-credit assignment: come up with a plan to change the world for the better, and do it. Twelve-year-old Trevor McKinney began by doing something good for three people. But instead of paying him back, he asked them to "pay it forward" by doing a favor for three more people, who in turn would help three others, and so on, each act a link in a chain of human kindness.

And no one -- not his teacher, his mom, or anyone in his small California town -- could ever have dreamed of how far Trevor's plan would go.

See above reviews