Catherine Ryan Hyde

Sometimes a child knows better... GRACE Ten-year-old Grace knows that her mum loves her, but her mum loves drugs too. And there's only so long Grace can fend off the 'woman from the county' who is threatening to put her into care. Her only hope is... BILLY Grown-man Billy Shine hasn't been out of his apartment for years. People scare him, and the outside world scares him even more. Day in, day out, he lives a perfectly orchestrated silent life within his four walls. Until now. . . THE PLAN Grace bursts into Billy's life with a loud voice and a brave plan to get her mum clean. And it won't be easy, because they will have to confiscate the one thing her mum holds most dear . . . they will have to kidnap Grace.

Don't Let Me Go

"An excellent read." -New Books Review "Original and wonderful." -The Sun The U.K. bestseller is now available in the U.S. for the first time! Former Broadway dancer and current agoraphobic Billy Shine has not set foot outside his apartment in almost a decade. He has glimpsed his neighbors-beautiful manicurist Rayleen, lonely old Ms. Hinman, bigoted and angry Mr. Lafferty, kind-hearted Felipe, and 9-year-old Grace and her former addict mother Eileen. But most of them have never seen Billy. Not until Grace begins to sit outside on the building's front stoop for hours every day, inches from Billy's patio. Troubled by this change in the natural order, Billy makes it far enough out onto his porch to ask Grace why she doesn't sit inside where it's safe. Her answer: "If I sit inside, then nobody will know I'm in trouble. And then nobody will help me." Her answer changes everything. By the bestselling author of WHEN I FOUND YOU, SECOND HAND HEART, and PAY IT FORWARD, DON'T LET ME GO is the heart-breaking, funny, and life-affirming story of a building full of loners and misfits who come together to help a little girl survive-and thrive-against all odds. "Catherine Ryan Hyde at her utter best." -ChickLit Reviews

Peggy Walker

This is by the same author as "Pay It Forward". I gather that she focuses on the opportunities most people have to connect with others in ways that help them both which are usually missed in our busy society. In this book, a young girl who is all but abandoned by her drug-addicted mother connects her isolated neighbors in ways that enrich them all. Honestly, we don't get to know most of them all that well, although we find out what particular incidents have isolated them. We do get to know Billy (her agoraphobic neighbor) well, since he is one of the narrators of the story. I loved the unlikely ways that they found to connect with a 10 year old girl....especially teaching her to tap dance. This is a very "lite" story, in many ways, but it manages to be heartwarming just the same.