I have read quite a few of the author’s works, listened to many as well. This particular one left me feeling conflicted. It does not fit in a specific box (not that many of her previous works do either, but still.) It is the tale of Anton, a good, kind-hearted boy struggling under intense emotional turmoil who helps a woman in distress out of the goodness of his heart (and the other tangles of his heart as well). His family is a mixed bag of personalities, and the narrative spans his entire adult life, jumping a few years to maintain efficiency at crucial times.
Anton is the central theme of the story too, his selfless behaviour and the way he conducts his life and that he is incapable of active deceit make him the kind of characters that you often encounter in books by Catherine Ryan Hyde.
It is an averagely happy story with a darker underbelly that continues during the whole narrative waiting to throw a spanner into the works. The narration was brilliant, with different emotions coming through, and each character, male or female, all sounded unique. If you pick this up, I recommend the audio version.
Superfluous Reading 