Stay by Catherine Hyde

Stay by Catherine Hyde

An unforgettable novel about the power of friendship and kindness by the New York Times bestselling author of Pay It Forward.

In the summer of 1969, fourteen-year-old Lucas Painter carries a huge weight on his shoulders. His brother is fighting in Vietnam. His embattled parents are locked in a never-ending war. And his best friend, Connor, is struggling with his own family issues. To find relief from the chaos, Lucas takes long, meandering walks, and one day he veers into the woods.

There he discovers an isolated cabin and two huge dogs. Frightened, he runs. And the dogs run with him. Lucas finds unusual peace in running with the dogs, and eventually he meets their owner, Zoe Dinsmore. Closed off and haunted by a tragic past, Zoe has given up. She doesn't want to be saved. She wants out. But Lucas doesn't want her to go, and he sees an opportunity to bring more than one friend back into the light. It's either the best or worst idea he's ever had, but Lucas isn't giving up on Zoe or Connor.

Their unexpected connection might be the saving grace that Zoe thought she'd lost, that Connor needs, and that Lucas has been running toward.

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of thirty-three books that have been published. Pay It Forward, her bestseller novel from 1999, was made into a blockbuster Warner Bros. film. The book was named one of the Best Books for Young Adults by the American Library Association, and it was translated into more than two dozen languages for distribution in more than thirty countries. Becoming Chloe while Kickstart the World were both named to the ALA's Rainbow List, and Jumpstart the World was a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards and won two Rainbow Awards. A Rainbow Award was given to The Language of Hoofbeats.

Her short tales have appeared in the Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, and the Sun, as well as the collections Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts, as well as the bestseller anthology Dog Is My Co-Pilot. Her short fiction has won honorable mention in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest, a second-place award for the Tobias Wolff Award, and nominations for Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Prize for Fiction, and the O. Henry Prize for Poetry. The Pushcart Prize and the Henry Award Hyde is the creator and past president of the Pay It Forward Foundation, and three of his stories have been included in Best American Short Stories.

She has spoken at the National Conference on Education twice, visited with AmeriCorps members at the White House, and shared a dais with Bill Clinton as a professional public speaker. She resides in California and is an active equestrian, photographer, and traveler.