When I Found You

By: Catherine Ryan Hyde

Narrated by: Jeff Cummings

Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

"What do I have to do to make you wash your hands of me? There's nothing you could do. I will never wash my hands of you."

Nathan McCann thought he didn't want a family. But when he finds an abandoned newborn in the woods, he feels an inexplicable bond with the boy and starts to make plans to raise the child as his own - until the baby's grandmother steps forward to claim him. Nathan makes a request of her, though: to one day bring the boy to meet his rescuer.

Fifteen years later, Nathan gets his wish when the boy and his grandmother show up on his doorstep. Named Nat and now an angry teenager with a criminal record, the boy is once again in need of rescuing. Nathan takes Nat in, swearing to never abandon him. Nathan believes that with love and patience anyone can change. And he just might be right.

From the author of Pay It Forward comes a poignant tale of love, pain, and trusting people to stay by your side in a world where leaving is easy.

©2013 Catherine Ryan Hyde (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Wonderful book and wonderful characters

This is a very heartfelt story full of the differences people can make in the world when they are patient and understanding with others. We can never truly know what is going on inside someone else and how that affects their behavior. This book is a lovely story that allows us to see both sides.

Almost Returned It - Glad I Didn't!

This book was so far fetched in the first chapter that I nearly returned it. Instead I gave it a break and tried again later and it turned out to be a well-written, phenomenal book with great characters, twists, and turns. I am glad I read it!

excellent

Story, performance fantastic. what would you do if you found a newborn in the woods? Would you leave him there? No of course not he was left with the Grandmother. But she didn't speak the whole truth to him. Kinda sugarcoated it. Which made him latch out. But really didn't help him him left him to the man Nathan who had no children. Only good thing about Nathan he was the one who found him. Very good outcome but it took a lot of tough love and good honesty to break the barriers. it is a heartwarming I cried in a double spots. I know you won't be disappeared. had to put down

Great story of unconditional love

I enjoyed this story very much. As an adoptive parent, I understand unconditional love. The story is well told, and the narrator does a great job with the multiple characters voices. It is a touching well told story that comes full circle.

Great story

This man had his life mapped out and did everything he wanted and then found an abandoned baby and it changes what he wanted. The boy was important to him and he wanted to build a relationship with him. It changed who he was. Good story.

Love this author

Another wonderful novel that will touch your heart. The characters are written in a way that creates someone that could be your friend, neighbor, family member

Ms Hyde is one of a kind.

Catherine Ryan Hyde is a genius as a storyteller. Her characters are so real that you treat them as friends. Another spellbinding hit on her hands. Congratulations, Ms Hyde!

Giving without Expecting Something Back . . .

I finished this audio book a couple of days ago, and I'm still thinking about it. This book was a simple one,really, a story that I would have written totally differently . . . but it wasn't mine to write . . . when Nathan found the tiny baby abandoned in the woods, and wanted to adopt him, my heart ached for the grandmother to allow the boy to be adopted by Nathan and his wife. I was secretly angered at every incident when Nat's grandma refused to tell him the truth, when she failed to "hear" him, to really share her life with him. When she told him that every kid has a man that finds them in the woods . . . Even at my age, a grandmother myself, I still ache as a child aches . . . going back to my own early years, a time when I, too, had no control over decisions that were made . . . decisions that, for good or bad, impact me to this day . . . To get the full benefit of this story, one must listen with their heart. You must sit back and take the story as it comes, as it is written and read . . . and then, it's full beauty comes full circle. Nathan said from day one that he wanted the boy he found in the woods. He meant it. Let that sink in and LISTEN. If only every child had a Nathan . . .

Give This Book More Than An Hour

and you'll be rewarded with a heartbreaking story of compassion and tenderness. The last couple of hours were so much better than the first 5. Too bad it took the narrator that long to warm up!.


I was Oh So Done with is novel by the 3rd hour and was complaining about it to a friend-who had recommended the book-she read the paper book. She couldn't understand I disliked it so. The narration was cardboard, stiff and toneless. I didn't give a $hit about any of these people- the boy was a total brat, the old guy was dull and his wife was Suzy Homemaker with passive aggressive issues. The girlfriend was so meek and quite you couldn't hear what the narrator said..in a book you could read the words.

On her recommendations, I finished the whole book and ended up being taken into the world of these people, Plus the narrator gets so much better

Only for patient people I guess.

A beautiful story that doesn't pull any punches.

This story reads like a fable, meditatively, simple and straightforward yet heavy with metaphor and intertext. It certainly is forthcoming! I don't want to give any of the story away, though the story is kind of timeless and yet secondary to the experience, so I will just say that there is much tragedy and disappointment, many questions and surprises, to the point of being quite heartbreaking at times, which makes it all the more beautiful.

The performance was excellent. The voices of some minor characters were annoying, but meant to be, and only briefly. I must also praise the production and engineering - this was non-fatiguing, never left me needing to rewind to catch too-quiet sections, and didn't have any of the glitches that often pop up in audiobooks. The recording process was totally transparent, which, unfortunately, has not been the case for any of the last 10 or so audiobooks I've listened to. So, Bravo!