This book surprised me. Ignore the cover. The cover makes it look like one of those awful books on neglected/abused children, that seem so popular with certain people. This is not one of those books. It's an easy yet quite touching read. Reasonably well written and flits between time and narrator really effortlessly. I don't think I'll be rushing out to read Catherine Ryan hyde's other works but I certainly wouldn't pass over them if I encountered them.