Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6705 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Daily Express
A remarkable story of the magic of love

Publishers Weekly
Hyde excels in her story of a love that transcends time, place and
human weakness

Denver Post
A magnificent storyteller

Customer Reviews

What a let down!
On my reading list due to being a Richard and Judy recommended read. According to the cover it is the magical story of a young boy's search for his mother.
I have not read a book I have been so disappointed in for a long time finding it a thoroughly boring and disjointed story of unconditional love.
In theory it sounded Ok, three protagonists Leonard, the little boy deserted by his mother at the age of five. Pearl his very young teenage mother who leaves him a neighbour's care one day and never returns, finally Mitch the neighbour. The chapters are narrated by each of the three and right from the very first one I had my doubts, finding it difficult to relate to the characters or the situation. I kept reading as far as page 120 in the hope it would start to make sense. It didn't and I have so many other books waiting to be read that I finally decided it was a waste of time. I am sorry because I rarely give up on a book. I have read some other reviews to see if I was just missing the point and it appears I must have been Somehow I feel let down by this one but I appear to be very much in the minority!

Lovable, loving and lovely - and that's just 5-year-old Leonard

I like the way Catherine Ryan Hyde really gets into the mind of each of the main characters - and even some of the minor characters (like the red-haired guy at Santa Monica Blvd.). She also gives us the warm glow of brimful human emotion at the end of each chapter.
As a 5-year-old, Leonard seems amazingly mature. But, given his circumstances, he needs to mature very quickly. In any case, how many 5-year-olds do we really know well? Some of his `innocent child' thoughts were brilliantly expressed - eg. "I couldn't hang on to this dream. It kept sliding away. It was like trying to grab a handful of water".(p.74), and "I think it was hard for me to understand that the world kept going while I was sleeping". (p.102).
The whole book was nicely structured, with clear chapter headings: eg. "Leonard age 5: The cuss jar"; and "Mitch age 25: breathe"; and "Pearl, age 17: safe" ; etc. Such headings are very helpful to the reader. This structure is a nice style/technique which allows each character to speak in their own voice and relate their own stories and versions of significant events.
The final chapters spin the suspense and seem just on the edges of plausibility.

Incredibly moving
I really really loved this book. It was written from several different perspectives over past and present timelines and kept me focused and interested throughout. The characters were all emotionally flawed in some way but deeply likeable, especially Leonard. His perceptiveness, kind and wise nature was touching and inspiring. The main relationships had so much depth and tenderness and were forged in spite of and because of varying traumatic events; theoretically these characters ought to have been left emotionally bitter and scarred - the beauty of this book lay in their ability to continue to love. Just wonderful.