Just After Midnight

A Novel

By: Catherine Ryan Hyde

Narrated by: Kate Rudd

Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

From the New York Times bestselling author of Pay It Forward comes an uplifting and poignant novel about friendship, trust, and facing your fears.

No longer tolerating her husband’s borderline abuse, Faith escapes to her parents’ California beach house to plan her next move. She never dreamed her new chapter would involve befriending Sarah, a fourteen-year-old on the run from her father and reeling from her mother’s sudden and suspicious death.

While Sarah’s grandmother scrambles to get custody, Faith is charged with spiriting the girl away on a journey that will restore her hope: Sarah implores Faith to take her to Falkner’s Midnight Sun, the prized black mare that her father sold out from under her. Sarah shares an unbreakable bond with Midnight and can’t bear to be apart from her. Throughout the sweltering summer, as they follow Midnight from show to show, Sarah comes to terms with what she witnessed on the terrible night her mother died.

But the journey is far from over. Faith must learn the value of trusting her instincts - and realize that the key to her future, and Sarah’s, is in her hands.

©2018 Catherine Ryan Hyde, Trustee, or Successor Trustee, of the Catherine Ryan Hyde Revocable Trust created under that certain declaration dated September 27, 1999. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

A beautifully told story!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Both the story and the performance were wonderful. I found myself thinking about it when I wasn't listening to it and that is always a sign that I'm really enjoying a book. I highly recommend it.

Great story, great narration!

First off, I loved the context of this story! I dont write spoilers so I will be brief. I listened almost straight through an afternoon and night until it was done. Kate Rudd is one of my top 5 favorite narrators, and she does not disappoint here! Beautiful story, have Kleenex handy, this was a 4 tissue story for me; I've lived a very similar story so it affected me like that. I do believe most people would feel the emotion anyway. I would happily devour anything this author writes at this point.

feel good story

good book, but fairly unbelievable. it would be nice if we could believe something like this plot would happen. especially in our world today.

Touching, low drama, which I loved!

I love the way this author has characters support each other in unexpected ways turning trying situations into magical success stories. I love how she uses situations with small amounts of drama, realistic amounts and allows the characters to successfully overcome their difficulties.

Worth every minute

Wonderful character development, well thought out story line, impressive handling of difficult subjects.

I’ll definitely be looking for more from this author!

Just after midnight

A beautiful story about a horse and her owner and the huge bond between the two of them. Dressage is a dance with a horse and rider. These are true symbols of the ability of the rider to communicate with one another.

Very glad I stick with it!

I must say about 3 paragraphs into the book and I thought no way can I listen to this robotic narrator. She did a wonderful job when speaking as one of the characters but when just narrated she's very robotic I'm sorry I don't like to take anything away from her ,it's just was very strange but I'm glad I stuck with it. The story was wonderful.

Narrator is terrific!

She does so many different voices (at least 7) without sounding weird, and it really helps keep track of who is talking. The storyline is sweet, and the ending is kind of Disney/fairytale-ish. The writing isn’t top notch, and there are a couple uses of “an odd amount of time” (is that supposed to mean a long time? Short time? There are much more descriptive words that can be used). But the story was very easy to listen to, and the opening immediately draws you in. It was also quite interesting for a non-horse person like me to learn some new terminology.

Fantastic

Just After Midnight
Catherine Ryan Hyde

Just After Midnight is a heartfelt heartrending story about starting over and learning to trust in yourself. It’s also about love and loss and that family’s of the heart are sometimes better than blood relations. Set in Summer all over Southern California from the beach to swanky horse ranches the audience will get a crash course in the spectacle of Dressage as the author unfolds in her own time the story of the death of Sarah’s mother and of Faith’s marriage. The scenery is fabulous and with Catherine’s descriptive narrative that takes in the big picture and stops to smell the roses too the audience will find it hard to put this down. Both Sarah and Faith are the standouts and even though they’re relative newly acquainted the author makes their strong bond believable. Fans of Kristin Hannah Barbara Delinsky and great women’s fiction will find themselves in love with this novel.
Escaping an abusive marriage Faith takes refuge at her dad and stepmother’s beach cottage where she hopes to plan a new start. Little did she know that the new start would involve spending the summer with a fourteen-year-old girl Dressage prodigy who just lost her mother saying goodbye to the horse she loves.
Sarah has lost so much at such a young age in such a short time, her mother has died suspiciously, her father is lying about it and now he’s sold out from under her the only thing that could ever get her through this, her Dressage horse, Midnight.

Loved it

I have never been disappointed in a book of hers yet and this did not disappoint me!