Showing results by author "Catherine Ryan Hyde" in All Categories

Former Broadway dancer and current agoraphobic Billy Shine has not set foot outside his apartment in almost a decade. He has glimpsed his neighbors--beautiful manicurist Rayleen, lonely old Ms. Hinman, bigoted and angry Mr. Lafferty, kind-hearted Felipe, and nine-year-old Grace and her former addict mother, Eileen. But most of them have never seen Billy. Not until Grace begins to sit outside on the building's front stoop for hours every day, inches from Billy's patio.

No longer tolerating her husband’s borderline abuse, Faith escapes to her parents’ California beach house to plan her next move. She never dreamed her new chapter would involve befriending Sarah, a fourteen-year-old on the run from her father and reeling from her mother’s sudden and suspicious death. While Sarah’s grandmother scrambles to get custody, Faith is charged with spiriting the girl away on a journey that will restore her hope: Sarah implores Faith to take her to Falkner’s Midnight Sun, the prized black mare that her father sold out from under her.

Never knowing his parents, eleven-year-old Stewie Little and his brother have been raised on a farm by their older sister. Stewie steadfastly tends the chickens left by his beloved late grandmother. And every day Stewie goes door to door selling fresh eggs from his wagon—a routine with a surprise just around the corner. It’s his new customer, Marilyn. She’s prickly and guarded, yet comfortably familiar—she reminds the grieving Stewie so much of the grandmother he misses more than he can express.

Pay It Forward, is the moving story of Trevor McKinney, a 12-year-old boy who accepts his social studies teacher’s challenge to come up with a plan to change the world. Trevor’s idea is simple: Do a good deed for three people and ask them to "pay it forward" to three others who need help. He envisions a vast movement of kindness and goodwill spreading beyond his small California town and across the world.

Michael Steeb is an aimless 21-year-old pot farmer in Central California in the 1980s. He has no real plans or interests...until the day he connects with memories of a life that seems to belong to someone else. That "spirit" is Walter, a young American soldier killed in World War II. Michael's task is the near-impossible: to lead Walter's family to closure and peace, to deliver the real truth behind Walter's Purple Heart, and to somehow achieve the forgiveness absent for so many years so Walter can move on.

Nathan McCann thought he didn't want a family. But when he finds an abandoned newborn in the woods, he feels an inexplicable bond with the boy and starts to make plans to raise the child as his own - until the baby's grandmother steps forward to claim him. Nathan makes a request of her, though: to one day bring the boy to meet his rescuer.

Roseanna Chaldecott spent her life as a high-powered lawyer in Manhattan. But when her best friend and law partner dies suddenly, something snaps. Unsure of her future, Roseanna heads upstate on one tank of gas and with no plans to return. In the foothills of the Adirondacks, Roseanna discovers the perfect hideout in a ramshackle farm. Its seventy-six acres are rich with possibilities and full of surprises, including a mother and daughter squatting on the property. Although company is the last thing Roseanna wants, she reluctantly lets them stay.

Lewis Madigan is young, gay, out of work, and getting antsy when he’s roped into providing end-of-life care for his insufferable homophobic neighbor, Chester Wheeler. Lewis doesn’t need the aggravation, just the money. The only requirements: run errands, be on call, and put up with a miserable old churl no one else in Buffalo can bear. After exchanging barbs, bickering, baiting, and pushing buttons, Chester hits Lewis with the big ask. Lewis can’t say no to a dying wish.

Ella Ginsberg's brother, Simon, has disappeared. His clothing, shoes, and watch were found abandoned near a freight line track in Central California. His jockey shorts and wallet were never found. The police have no clue, and Simon's wife had no warning that anything was wrong. Ella takes off on foot across much of California and Arizona, thinking she can find Simon using nothing but her knowledge of the way he might think. Her search leads her to the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

Out there is chaos, the collapse of society, and so much to be afraid of. All that matters is freedom. That’s what Remy Blake has been taught by his survivalist father. Raised off the grid in the middle of nowhere, his own survival skills not yet honed, Remy is days shy of his eighth birthday when his father unexpectedly dies. As seasons pass, supplies run out, and fending for himself grows more desperate, Remy sets out on foot, unprepared for the great unknown of civilization.

By Catherine Ryan Hyde, the best-selling author of Don't Let Me Go and Pay It Forward, this entertaining and life-affirming collection of autobiographical stories explores the rewards and challenges of building a happy life of self-knowledge and creative inspiration, from a writer who has been through it all.

Pay It Forward is a wondrous and moving story about Trevor McKinney, a 12-year-old boy in a small California town who accepts the challenge that his teacher gives his class, a chance to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world for the better - and to put that plan into action.

Grace, dieci anni, vive nella periferia degradata di Los Angeles con una madre tossicodipendente che la trascura e il rischio di essere affidata ai servizi sociali. C'è solo una persona che può aiutarla a uscire fuori da questa situazione e donarle una nuova speranza: Billy Shine, il suo vicino di casa. Un tempo ballerino di Broadway, Billy è ora un uomo solitario, in preda a continui attacchi di panico, spaventato dalla gente e dal mondo fuori le quattro mura della sua casa.

Leonard is an eerily wise five-year-old boy with 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. One day, Pearl drops Leonard off with Mitch, and never returns. As truth and fiction, memory and dreams collide, Mitch finds himself learning from a surprising source the true, magical definition of love.

Pearl hatte es in ihrem Leben nie leicht. Zum Zeitpunkt, als sie Mutter wird, ist sie selbst noch ein Teenager. Dennoch ist Pearl entschlossen, ihrem kleinen Sohn Leonard bedingungslose Liebe zu schenken und dafür zu sorgen, dass es ihm einmal besser geht. Als die Vergangenheit sie eines Tages einholt, landet ihr fünfjähriger Sohn unvermittelt bei ihrem Nachbarn Mitch, einem jungen Mann ohne eigene Familie.

Der neue berührende Roman von Bestsellerautorin Catherine Ryan Hyde. Die resolute Witwe Bea kommt finanziell gerade so über die Runden, bis sie einem Betrug zum Opfer fällt und plötzlich alles verliert. Entschlossen begibt sie sich in ihrem alten Lieferwagen auf die Reise, um sich das zurückzuholen, was ihr gehört - koste es, was es wolle. Unterdessen muss die aus gutem Hause kommende Allie mit ansehen, wie ihre Eltern wegen Steuerhinterziehung verhaftet werden. Daraufhin landet sie in einer Wohngruppe für Jugendliche und versucht verzweifelt, sich in ihrer neuen Realität zurechtzufinden.

Eine kluge Geschichte über das Wesen von Freundschaft und das Echo der Vergangenheit von Bestsellerautorin Catherine Ryan Hyde.Eines würde der junge Software-Entwickler Lewis niemals tun: freiwillig Zeit mit seinem verbitterten Nachbarn Chester verbringen. Doch dann verliert Lewis seinen Job und wird von seinem Partner verlassen. Aus der Not heraus nimmt er die Stelle als Chesters Pfleger an, obwohl er dessen erniedrigende Kommentare nicht erträgt.

Texas 1959: Ihren Traum, als Ärztin zu arbeiten, musste die resolute Dr. Lucy Armstrong aufgeben. Denn für selbstständige Frauen haben ihre Nachbarn nur Misstrauen und Verachtung übrig. Seitdem lebt sie zurückgezogen auf einer abgelegenen Farm und kümmert sich um Tiere in Not. Doch als der Junge Pete, der mit seinem brutalen und kaltherzigen Vater zu kämpfen hat, einen verletzten Wolfshund zu Lucy bringt, beginnt zwischen den beiden eine Freundschaft, die ihre Einsamkeit vertreibt.

Zwei junge Menschen fahren nachts mit der U-Bahn ziellos durch New York City. Sie kennen sich nicht und sie suchen auch keinen Kontakt, denn nur in der Anonymität der Züge können sie für einen Moment ihre Sorgen vergessen: Der siebzehnjährige Sebastian fühlt sich erst dann wirklich frei, wenn es ihm gelingt, nachts heimlich die Wohnung zu verlassen, um seinem kontrollsüchtigen Vater zu entkommen. Maria ist viel zu früh Mutter geworden und seit kurzem arbeitslos.

Der Highschool-Lehrer August Schroeder hat nach dem Tod seines siebzehnjährigen Sohnes nur ein Ziel: Er will die gemeinsam geplante Reise nun allein unternehmen, um etwas von der Asche seines Sohnes im Yellowstone-Nationalpark zu verstreuen. Doch schon bald sieht es ganz so aus, als wollte ihm das Schicksal einen Strich durch die Rechnung machen. Sein Wohnmobil bleibt mitten im Nirgendwo liegen, und die Reparaturkosten würden sein Budget für diese ihm so wichtige Reise sprengen.