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Walk Me Home: Book summary and reviews of Walk Me Home by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Walk Me Home

by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Walk Me Home by Catherine Ryan Hyde X
Walk Me Home by Catherine Ryan Hyde
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  • Published Apr 2013
    374 pages
    Genre: Literary Fiction

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Book Summary

Since their mother's sudden death, sixteen-year-old Carly and her eleven-year-old sister, Jen, have been walking and hitchhiking across the Southwest trying to find Teddy, the closest thing they have to a family. Carly desperately hopes Teddy will take them in and save them from going into foster care - and forgive them for the lies told by their mother.

But when the starving girls get caught stealing food on a Native American reservation, their journey gets put on hold. While the girls work off their debt, Carly becomes determined to travel onward - until Jen confesses a terrible secret that leaves both sisters wondering if they can ever trust again.

Set against the backdrop of the American Southwest, Walk Me Home and its resilient heroines will inspire readers and renew their faith in recovery and redemption.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

This information about Walk Me Home was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Barbara O. (Maryland Heights, MO)

Survivors
Great read for book clubs. Two sisters each coping and surviving true to their individual personalities. Survivors. Beautifully written, their story told in glimpses, just enough facts revealed to keep the reader curious to know what happened. Loved it.

Linda J. (Manchester, MO)

Walk Me Home
"Hard to put down" is an over-used term, I believe, but in the case of "Walk Me Home," I would have to use just those words. Author Catherine Ryan Hyde wrote "Pay It Forward" so it should come as no surprise that her newest book would deliver. 16-year old Carly and her 11-year old sister leave their home in the dark of night under circumstances not fully divulged until halfway through the book. They are walking from New Mexico to California to find their Mom's ex-boyfriend, Teddy, who Carly believes will take them in. In Arizona, they are caught trying to steal chickens from an old Native American woman, and the story really takes an interesting turn.
A typical stubborn teenager, Carly can easily exasperate readers until they realize her motives, however misplaced. Jen is content to follow Carly to a point, and when that point is reached, Hyde leads readers down a path that makes one wonder how this can have a good outcome. This book is well worth the time spent.

Deb Y. (Blanco, TX)

This book SHOULD be read!
Catherine Ryan Hyde writes no bad books. This should be the only thing you need to know about it....................anything else would be spoiler!

Paula K. (Cave Creek, AZ)

Sister Power
Walk Me Home is why I love Bookbrowse First Impressions. Otherwise, I would never have read this wonderful book or met its author whose earlier works I can't wait to read. I pretty much devoured Walk Me Home in one setting – aboard a 4-hour plane ride that felt like four minutes, and finished the rest in the car on the way home from the airport. Luckily I was not driving.

Walk Me Home begins with sisters Carly and Jen, ages 16 and 11, in the first of many crises. They are escaping by bicycle from an event that takes much of the book to unwind. Hyde perfectly captures the angst of youth with the push-pull of sisterhood. While some of their crises may lack perfect plausibility they do capture a terrific story which enjoys the magnificent setting of the western U.S.

Patricia S. (Yankton, SD)

Poignant and Suspenseful
In her novel Walk Me Home Catherine Ryan Hyde has given us a poignant portrayal of two young girls, all alone in the world, walking from New Mexico to California in search of a home. The characters are skillfully drawn, the plot is suspenseful with flashbacks utilized to reveal the back story, and the descriptions of people and places are beautifully developed. When I received this book I thought it would take me about five days to read. Instead I read it in a day and a half and found it almost impossible to put down. It is a great novel for both adults and young adults. I already miss stubborn, opinionated Carly, and gentle wise little Jen.

Anna R. (Oak Ridge, TN)

Great book!
This book got me with the first page. The thought of two girls ages 16 & 11 walking across several states to find someone the older girl thinks will "save" is so scary. But what were these girls to do? Life has not be kind to them. The people they meet, some good, some bad, caused me to read this book in two afternoons. The writing is wonderful and the story is wonderful. I will be sure to recommend this book to my book group. It is a must read!!! It shows there are still some good people out there.

...18 more reader reviews

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Author Information

Catherine Ryan Hyde

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author and co-author of nineteen books, including When I Found You, Second Hand Heart, and Don't Let Me Go. Her novel Pay It Forward was included on the ALA's Best Books for Young Adults list, translated into twenty-three foreign editions, and turned into a major Warner Brothers motion picture. Her short stories have received honorable mentions in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, nominations for Pushcart Prizes and the O. Henry Award, and citations in the Best American Short Stories anthologies. Along with Anne R. Allen, she recently co-authored How To Be A Writer In The E-Age…And Keep Your E-Sanity. An avid traveler and amateur photographer, she has hiked the Grand Canyon, the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and many more of the world's most beautiful places. She currently resides in Cambria, California.
Visit her at catherineryanhyde.com

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