A Book Review of Catherine Ryan Hyde's 'When I Found You'

TessC: Enjoyable read with good characters

United Kingdom on Oct 25, 2023

Judy Luster: I’ll read anything Catherine Ryan Hyde writes. Her stories pull me in, I usually learn something and the characters become people I know.

United States on Oct 24, 2023

kristen w.: I really enjoyed this book. The story is very believable and you you feel empathy with the two main characters of the book. Even when Nat is acting out you don't dislike him because he's a troubled sole and most people in his life don't allow for that until he meets Nathan and his love is unconditional.

United Kingdom on Oct 24, 2023

Mary Jean Aydelotte: Sweet story about never giving up on somebody you care about for whatever reason. Simple philosophies of life from ordinary people that ring true even in this day and age. An enjoyable and quick read.

United States on Sep 27, 2023

Bob's Your Uncle: Interesting story. The characters all have unique personalities.

Nathan is the father I think most people would love to have. He is intelligent, wise and devoted. His self-control is above reproach.

Nat is constantly lied to about his identity. He is raised by his strict grandmother and becomes a rebellious teenager.

Some may see Eleanor as selfish, but she’s been a widow for a long time and when she takes the plunge into marriage once again she realizes that it’s not the life she wants to live.

Carol’s character is not flushed out enough to understand her actions. She’s pretty, moral, and lives in a single parent home with an obnoxious father. She may have been flattered by Nat’s attentions in the beginning, but it’s hard to understand why she would agree to marry bad boy Nat, ex-con, unemployed, who dreams of becoming a professional boxer after knowing him for only a matter of weeks. Later, when separated from Nat for years, she makes no effort to find a new partner.

The story’s ending is emotional and similar to others by Hyde. There are tear jerking scenes and characters who have difficulties early in life finally achieve their...

United States on Jul 29, 2023

Unknown: Blown away by this story
Down though the years the story is told by Nathan who found the new born babe in the woods The baby was named after Nathan and it follows how it has affected his life from boyhood.
And how they overcame the trails and disappointments to a deep love and affection.
Highly recommend.

United Kingdom on Feb 10, 2023

Janice Fleetwood.: The first time i heard about catherines writing was pay it forward which was made into a film and has been my favourite since i enjoyed this book also and look forward to reading her next one xxx

United Kingdom on Mar 27, 2022

Linda Pfeiffer: On October 2, 1960, Nathan McCann was duck hunting in the woods, with his dog Sadie when she ran ahead of him and began digging in the ground by a tree. The dog wouldn't come back when Nathan called her, he finally realized she must have discovered something for him to see on the ground. There in the dirt, covered with autumn leaves was a tiny newborn wrapped in a sweater wearing a well-fitted knit hat. By the time Nathan left the hospital to return home that day he had decided he would be forever tied to that child and wanted to adopt him. Unfortunately the police eventually found a living member of the baby's family and child services placed him with his maternal grandmother. She recognized that the baby would not even be alive had it not been for Nathan and named him Nat after the man who saved his life.
This is the story of both Nathan McCann and Nat Bates and how their lives would be forever tied to one another. I read this book in one night and spent the last half hour in tears. That's why I gave it five stars. One of the most engrossing stories I have read in a long time.

Canada on May 03, 2019

Beth: Though this story is about a man and an abandoned and dying infant that he finds, it is really more than just a story of a man and a boy whose lives become entwined.

It is a story about having meaning in your life. When the older man finds the abandoned infant left to die in the woods,the man realizes that nothing in his life until then has real value. He had been a success at his job, is married, and financially comfortable and respected in his world. But the baby is so special, helpless, and betrayed by the world. Unable to adopt the boy, he realizes that his connection with the child will give his life value. He stays a part of the child's life even though they do not meet again for fifteen years. After refusing to allow any contact between the boy and the man for those years, the grandmother washes her hands of the angry, uncontrollable teen, and shows up at the man's house to either give the boy-teen to the man or put him into the custody of the welfare or government system for uncontrollable, angry children. The man takes the boy in, teaches him a little about guns so that they can hunt together. A gay later the teen uses the gun to attempt a robbery. The boy goes to...

United States on Oct 19, 2014

John Williamson: Just read this short paragraph, let the words sink in, then close your eyes and visualize what you've read:

"Nathan McCann stood in his dark kitchen, a good two hours before dawn. He flipped on the overhead light, halfway hoping to see the coffeemaker all set up with water and grounds and waiting to be plugged in and set to percolating. Instead he saw the filter basket lying empty in the dish drain, looking abandoned and bare."

Sometimes when we read an opening passage in a book, the words fit together so well, so perfectly crafted, that it creates an indelible image that sticks with us. This is the case with Catherine Ryan Hyde's  When I Found You , a stunningly moving story of honesty, faith, perseverance and the human spirit.

Nathan McCann was a middle-aged man, married but without no children. While out hunting with his dog, he found a newborn infant in the woods, and assumed that the child was dead. But when the baby moved, Nathan's existence was changed completely, and that event became the beginning of a chain of events that span a lifetime.

Nathan took the baby to the hospital, quite taken by this small life that he had found. He wanted to...

United States on May 04, 2012