Michael Without Apology cover art

Michael Without Apology

A Novel

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

About this listen

A film student struggling with self-acceptance finally stops looking away from his traumatic past in a powerful novel by New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde.

Michael Woodbine was seven years old when a near-fatal fireworks accident scarred him and led to his placement in foster care. Now a college freshman, he is still trying to hide the effects of his trauma from his classmates, his adoptive family, and himself.

When Michael signs up for a film class, he meets Robert Dunning, a teacher who wears his own scars unapologetically. Robert encourages Michael to make a documentary that explores body image and self-perception. Michael places an ad seeking people who feel unattractive and rejected by society—and is surprised to learn that this is essentially everyone. Although some participants are recovering from injuries or surgeries, others are dealing with more everyday factors like aging or the changes to a body from giving birth.

As he collects these stories—and finally tells his own—Michael feels more connected to the world than he ever has before. But he knows his journey of self-acceptance has one more obstacle: his crushing doubts about why his birth parents wouldn’t fight to keep him.

©2025 Catherine Ryan Hyde, Trustee, or Successor Trustee, of the Catherine Ryan Hyde Revocable Trust created under that certain declaration dated September 27, 1999. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Coming of Age Friendship Genre Fiction Women's Fiction

Critic reviews

“In this brilliant novel, we learn about accepting ourselves and others, with all our scars and imperfections. Hyde demonstrates that we don’t need to apologize for our imperfect bodies, or for a messy house.”—Bookreporter
All stars
Most relevant
I loved this so much. Heart warming characters, great story, seamless narration, a lot of wisdom. Loved every minute. A great achievement which seems a strange thing to say about a novel perhaps but it was just so very well done. I couldn’t put it down. Sad in parts too but very much captured the emotional highs and lows of real life.

Absolutely Wonderful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wow! What an incredibly wonderfully warm and uplifting novel.

From beginning to end, I was enthralled.

After a terrible fireworks accident, seven year old Michael is left physically disfigured.

At nineteen, he attends a film class and is set a task to create a film. His lecturer gives Michael advice: 'Work out what you want to say.'

In 'Michael Without Apology' Michael challenges and explores the idea of body image with extreme wisdom.

I highly recommend this novel.

Heart-warming

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.