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Love in the Present Tense cover art

Love in the Present Tense

By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
Narrated by: David Coburn, Jeremy Redleaf, Duana Speights
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Summary

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Richard and Judy Best Read, 2007.
A Richard and Judy Book Club Selection.

"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.
©Catherine Ryan Hyde; (P)Random House
Family Life Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Romance
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Critic reviews

"Haunting." (Washington Post)
"A work of art...enchanting." (San Francisco Chronicle)
"Hyde excels in her story of a love that transcends time, place, and human weakness." (Publishers Weekly)

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Profile Image for Kaggy

A little gem

I don't normally like abridged books I was sufficiently intrigued to give it a go. I am so glad I did. I thought it was an incredibly unusual story. On one hand it could be seen as a sentimental exploration of the enduring nature of a mother's love. The story is however very gritty in places and I thought that Max's love story was heart wrenching.
I still think about this book several months after finishing it. This may be an abridged version but it was still a completely satisfying listen.

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