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    When I Found You
    When I Found You
    When I Found You
    Audiobook10 hours

    When I Found You

    Written by Catherine Ryan Hyde

    Narrated by Jeff Cummings

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Fifteen years after discovering an abandoned baby boy in the woods, widower Nathan McCann finds him abandoned once again—this time at his doorstep—in this emotional tale from New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde.

    While duck hunting one morning, childless, middle-aged Nathan McCann finds a newborn abandoned in the woods. To his shock, the child—wrapped in a sweater and wearing a tiny knitted hat—is still alive. To his wife’s shock, Nathan wants to adopt the boy…but the child’s grandmother steps in. Nathan makes her promise, however, that one day she’ll bring the boy to meet him so he can reveal that he was the one who rescued him.

    Fifteen years later, the widowered Nathan discovers the child abandoned once again—this time at his doorstep. Named Nat, the teenager has grown into a sullen delinquent whose grandmother can no longer tolerate him. Nathan agrees to care for Nat, and the two engage in a battle of wills that spans years. Still, the older man repeatedly assures the youngster that, unlike the rest of the world, he will never abandon him—not even when Nat suffers a trauma that changes both of their lives forever.

    From the bestselling author of Pay It Forward comes When I Found You, an exquisite, emotional tale of the unexpected bonds that nothing in life can break.

    Revised edition: This edition of When I Found You includes editorial revisions.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateOct 8, 2013
    ISBN9781480556546
    When I Found You
    Author

    Catherine Ryan Hyde

    Catherine Ryan Hyde is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of more than forty books and counting. An avid traveler, equestrian, and amateur photographer, she shares her astrophotography with readers on her website. Her novel Pay It Forward was adapted into a major motion picture, chosen by the American Library Association (ALA) for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than twenty-three languages for distribution in over thirty countries. Both Becoming Chloe and Jumpstart the World were included on the ALA’s Rainbow Book List, and Jumpstart the World was a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards. Where We Belong won two Rainbow Awards in 2013, and The Language of Hoofbeats won a Rainbow Award in 2015. More than fifty of her short stories have been published in the Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, and many other journals; in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts; and in the bestselling anthology Dog Is My Copilot. Her stories have been honored by the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest and the Tobias Wolff Award and have been nominated for The Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Three have been cited in the annual The Best American Short Stories anthology. She is the founder and former president (2000–2009) of the Pay It Forward Foundation. As a professional public speaker, she has addressed the National Conference on Education, twice spoken at Cornell University, met with AmeriCorps members at the White House, and shared a dais with Bill Clinton. For more information, please visit the author at www.catherineryanhyde.com.

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    Reviews for When I Found You

    4/5

    236 ratings25 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I loved this story. My expectations of Nate's were frequently mistaken. I kept thinking he would "come to his senses" and behave as society and his mentor, Nathan, would have him behave. This story kept me in suspense and seemed true to real life. I greatly admired Nathan's patience and love. I will read this again some day, having listened to it while walking on the beach.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This book was great on so many levels, in my opinion. The voices on the audio book were good too. The story follows a young man’s life from birth upward. His character goes through a transformation throughout the story. I won’t say more so I dot spoil it. I recommend this book.
    • 3/5
      Based on the amount of five star reviews on this book I expected more from it. It wasn't a bad story; it actually had a few great life lessons included. However I felt the story lacked emotion. Superficially it's there, you can see it. But I couldn't feel it. I mostly got through this book so fast because I was curious about how it would end, not because I felt much for the characters themselves. But again, some great things to consider about life in general. So not a total loss. It just could have been so much better.
    • 5/5
      The story of Nathan and Nat (the boy he found in the woods) is such a beautiful story of love. Nat is a troubled teen who grows up to be a troubled young adult. Abandoned by his mother, lied to by his grandmother, when Nathan steps in it appears that he is too late. But this story speaks to the power of steady, unfailing love and loyalty. While Nathan doesn't rescue Nat from the consequences of his actions, he never gives up on him. Read to the end because it is worth the read.
    • 4/5
      This had a lot about boxing. THe part I enjoyed most was the relationships between Nat and Nathan.
    • 4/5
      It was a quiet book. The main character reminded me of Harold Fry - and so did the feeling in the book. Just quiet.
    • 5/5
      I won this book on a Facebook page called Reader's Coffeehouse. I was very excited to start it and when I did I realized I had started this book already at some time and didn't finish it. I had only gotten about a chapter in when I put it aside for some reason, I honestly don't know why .
      I am SO happy I won this because I would've missed out on a really great story.
      The characters were so well developed, I couldn't love Nathan more if I tried. Every word he says in the story is profound. He is someone I think we would all like to be, someone who really thinks before he speaks realizes the weight of words. I am the mother of an adopted child. I took him when he was five and adopted him when he was seven from a very terrible situation. I also grew up with brothers and cousins who were amateur boxers. So those two things combined are probably why I related to the story so well. The writing was stunning, Nathan's dialogue was fantastic and the inner struggles for all of the characters can really be felt. Beautiful writing and a fantastic story. I would recommend it to anyone!


      Susan Marshall
    • 3/5
      Very intriguing and thought provoking. the characters weren't very realistic to me but they meshed well with the storyline. The storyline was a a pretty decent one, though at times I questioned where it was heading. I think she concluded the novel very well, tying up loose ends.
    • 5/5
      I would love to know how Hyde manages to write about so many subjects with what seems to me---as in this case, boxing. I love the way the characters in her books react to each other and there are always to many emotional, heart-felt expressions by the characters about ways to behave in a civilized world and about what is right and wrong. I just keep hoping for more books from Hyde, even though she has an enormous number already.
    • 5/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it on the review of one of my Goodreads friends. I had to order it from England because it's not yet carried in the US that I could find, but it didn't cost any more than if I'd ordered it stateside. Catherine is a great author with a very readable style of writing. Some of you may be familiar with "Pay It Forward", which was made into a movie. This is the first of her books I have read, and I will find and read all the rest of them now. It's been long enough since I saw "Pay It Forward" that I'll read the book, too.

      Reading Catherine's work makes you feel as though you're there in a natural way. The details are amazingly everyday and she has a keen insight into human nature. This book is well worth the extra effort you may go to in procuring the book. I didn't check the library; perhaps some have it.
    • 4/5
      Book: When I Found You
      Author: Catherine Ryan Hyde

      The boy’s story begins in the woods, where his mother abandons him to die on the day of his birth. In a very fortunate coincidence, a man named Nathan and his dog happen upon the baby while duck hunting early the next morning. Nathan rushes the baby to the hospital and, against all odds, the baby survives.

      Nathan is married, although not very happily, has no children. For some reason he feels a paternal kinship with this tiny baby boy. Nathan requests to adopt the baby but custody goes instead to his biological grandmother, an older woman who had no idea her daughter, who is now imprisoned, was pregnant. And so the child and man’s paths diverge indeterminately, with one exception: the grandmother names the child Nat after his savior Nathan.

      We watch as this baby grows into a distraught child searching for answers about his past. When asked specifics, his grandmother even years later is never quite honest about his birth. She often makes reference to "The man who found you," so much that Nathan thinks all children are found in the woods. He learns this is not true when he goes to school and children question why he says such a thing. Now, Nat senses the mystery, and learns to distrust even his closest and only relative. Nat becomes a dramatic, troublemaking adolescent, desperately seeking for someone to be reliable and, most importantly, honest.

      The one consistency in Nat's existence is that he takes solace in the mysterious packages He receives on his birthday and Christmas every year, without fail, from a man he does not remember ever meeting.

      SPOILER ALERT!
      Eventually, Nat’s behavior becomes so difficult that his grandmother decides to ask Nathan if he will take responsibility for the boy. Always reliable and honest, Nathan quickly agrees.

      When Nat is sentenced to two years in juvenile detention, Nathan stays by Nat’s side. When Nat finishes his juvie stint, Nathan invites Nat into his home. Inspired by a pair of boxing gloves he received from Nathan as a young teen in one of the then mysterious packages, Nat decides to pursue a career as a professional boxer, and Nathan chooses to support his dream.

      This novel is not exciting nor thrilling, but one I found a page turner as the author takes you through 40 years of the life of Nat and the few people around him. This is a sentimental story of love and the power of honesty. You'll find yourself holding your breath as Nat makes choices that you know are going to be detrimental to his life, but as the reader you are powerless to stop him.
    • 3/5
      I liked this story, but at times it felt a bit slow.
    • 2/5
      I signed up for a free month of Kindle Unlimited and When I Found You was the first novel I downloaded. I don't remember what made me choose it - I'd never heard of it - but it ended up not being a great book for me. In fact, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars which basically means I disliked it as much as I possibly could have without quite getting to the almost-pleasure of a hate-read.The story is that of a boy left in the woods by his mother, found by a man, and raised by his grandmother. The man who found him has some troubles of his own and eventually takes the kid in despite the fact that the kid's a criminal. So that sounds fine, right? I'm into taking a risk on people and being there for people even when they do fucked up things.The plot is fine but the writing was less than fantastic. For what should have been a pretty emotional tale, the writing was relatively dull and at no point did I feel emotionally committed to these characters. The dialog was choppy and not at all realistic. All characters, with the exception of the boy found in the woods, were either all good or all bad. There was absolutely no nuance, as though the author stuck a collar around her reader's neck and forced them to her own conclusions about the characters instead of letting us come to them on our own.Surprise! I wouldn't recommend this book to a friend.
    • 3/5
      I've read two or three other books by Ms. Hyde and have enjoyed them when I'm in the mood for something light and uplifting, something happily-ever-after. That's what I expected from this book, and while it was all those things, it didn't work well for me. Nathan (or more accurately, his dog) finds a newborn baby abandoned in the woods, and his and baby Nate's lives are entwined ever after.Nathan was a good man, and a strong character. Part of my problem is that Nate sounded about the same at 18 as he did at 8. There is romance, and it is too much insta-love for me, although the romance is not sexy or offensive.I would have possibly enjoyed this more if I had read the book rather than listening to an Audible edition. The reader was quite bad at women's voices. They sounded like caricatures of real women. Only one woman in the book came across as not being a shrew. And again, Nate sounded too much the same both as a young child and a young adult.Boxing and duck hunting both were part of the story, and I don't enjoy reading about either of those things.I'm not giving up on this author, and I know many will enjoy this book, but it wasn't right for me.
    • 2/5
      After reading so many positive reviews I have to add my negative two cents. I found the plot simple and moralistic. Characters read like cardboard cut-outs, each easily described by a single word. Nat: troubled. Nathan: Perfect. Carol: loyal. Eleanor: Prejudiced. It was a quick and entertaining read because it was so simple. The ending was too quick and a disappointment, coming off as sappy and an example of lazy writing.
    • 3/5
      It is possible for the course of a person’s life to be changed in an instant. Sometimes that change is for the better, sometimes for the worse. But then there are those times when it is hard to tell which it is. Nathan McCann, the main character of Catherine Ryan Hyde’s When I Found You, would probably tell you that, in his case, it would depend on which day of the week you asked him that question. Nathan, a middle-aged accountant, is caught up in a loveless marriage to an unhappy woman who is only going through the motions of life. He is not, however, (as he will prove in spades later in the story) the kind of man to give up easily or quickly when he has made a commitment to another person. For now at least, Nathan’s work and his love of duck hunting help make up for the unhappiness of his home life. And then it happens. While they are on a hunt one cold morning, Nathan’s dog leads him to the tree sheltering a newborn baby clothed only in an old sweater and a perfectly fitting knitted cap. When, much to his shock, Nathan discovers that the baby is still alive, he drops his shotgun where he stands and rushes the child to the local hospital – where, beyond all odds against it, doctors manage to save the baby’s life. And, almost unbelievably even to Nathan, his own life is about to change every bit as drastically as the abandoned baby’s life will be changed because, almost out of nowhere, he is filled with an all-consuming desire to adopt this little boy.But, that is not to be. The baby’s grandmother steps up to claim him, and the best that Nathan can do is get her to agree that she will someday introduce her grandson to “the man who found him in the woods.” Young Nat (who was named after Nathan) proves, though, to be more than the old woman can handle, and one day fifteen years later she does more than introduce the boy to Nathan – she abandons him on man’s doorstep. Thus begins the rest of Nathan McCann’s life, and it will not be an easy life because Nat will soon vividly demonstrate how he wore out his grandmother and why she dumped his care into the hands of “the man who found him in the woods.” The basic plot outline of When I Found You is what compelled me to read the novel. I was intrigued by the idea of a man who, strictly by chance, stumbles upon the one person with whom he will be most intricately bound for the rest of his days. I expected a tale of a life saved, and put to good use, by someone who had escaped what was almost a certain death sentence. Instead, the book turned into more of a cautionary tale with the message “be careful what you wish for”. When I Found You is interesting in the way that train wrecks are interesting…I looked, but I didn’t enjoy it.
    • 5/5
      A tender story about the nature of commitment. Nathan finds an infant in the woods and although he does not raise the child, he remains attached. Nathan is quiet--and a little bit odd--but is full of insight and compassion. I loved this guy. When the infant returns to him as a teenager, Nathan has his hands full, but stays true. I never quite knew where this story was headed, but I knew I wanted to go wherever it would take me. Unique and insightful, and written with grace, I enjoyed this book thoroughly.
    • 4/5
      The author has written quite a few books, but I hadn't read any. Good story. A man finds an abandoned babe in the woods, and even though he was raised part of his life by his grandmother, Nathan still feels enough responsibility for the boy, that he takes him in when grandma kicks him out. How far will YOU go to save someone?
    • 5/5
      This is one of those stories that sticks with you. In fact, I read this story about a year ago and from time to time, I find myself going back to it in my mind. Now that is a the mark of a great book, in my opinion.
    • 5/5
      Excellent insight into a person's innate desire to make one's life mean something. There a number of moral principles presented that resonated and I paused to read them twice, sometimes three times. I was touched by this story. It was really very powerful, from beginning to end.
    • 3/5
      Against my better judgement, I downloaded this book about a day-old baby abandoned in the woods. As a new-ish mother, such subjects are extremely difficult for me to read. However, I am thankful I did download this book--it was poignant and interesting. Both Nathans are multi-faceted characters in their own ways; I did wish the novel did not jump years to years, but that's beyond my control. Overall, definitely worth a read.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the book. It is a rare person to not give up on someone everyone else has dismissed. I wish there had been more exposition on Nathan's second marriage. She knew about Nat, but never considered what it might mean to her life if she married Nathan. She didn't seem consistent as a character. Also, I could not understand why Nathan seemed to be relatively wealthy at some times and of limited means at others. The book was good enough, but not as good as I might have liked.
    • 4/5
      When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde is an absolutely beautiful story. This is a story of a man, who while out hunting with his dog one dark cold morning is completely unaware that his life is about to change forever. His well trained dog does something completely out of character, and goes off, refusing to come when called. The man, Nathan... realizes that only something very important and unusual could make Sadie refuse to obey. Nathan goes to where Sadie is standing, and following her lead, looks down to find a bundle buried in the cold leaves. It takes him only seconds to realize that what he found is an infant. It takes a moment longer for him to realizes the child is still alive. Barely.Running back to his truck with Sadie, the infant clasped to his heart is probably the most important thing Natan has ever done. He races with the child to a hospital, and turns the tiny boy over to be, he hopes, saved. And during the time he waits, he realizes that he has felt a profound connection to the child, and wants the boy to be his. His family, his son.This is the story of what happens in the days, then weeks, then years, that follow that moment in the woods. It's a story of a man who is filled with goodness, love and absolute devotion. Devotion to doing what is right, and to the people around him. Although Nathan's perspective is unusual, it is true and right and loving. He enriches the lives of those around him, and finds the very best within each person whose life touches his.Read this one, you won't regret it.I would absolutely recommend this to a friend.
    • 2/5
      One morning, hunter Nathan finds an abandoned infant boy in the woods. He wants to adopt the baby, but the baby's grandmother steps forward to take him in. Fifteen years later, the now-teenager has become difficult and the grandmother asks Nathan to raise the young man (Nat).I did not like this book as much as I'd hoped. The Nathan character is far too "good" to seem like a real person. He shows very little emotion, just steadfastly goes about supporting Nat emotionally and financially, no matter what Nat throws at him. He's an admirable character, but his lack of frustration, regret or even conflicting emotions in this situation makes him an unrealistic character. And there is very little to explain his motivation to behave this way, other than a last-pages supposition by a minor character.Nat's character is stronger. Even though he is less admirable, his emotions at least make him real.Much of this book takes place in boxing gyms or boxing rings. That may add appeal for some readers; it didn't for me.
    • 4/5
      The cover of this suggested that it would be too mawkish for my taste but I remembered the deft handling of emotion in Pay It Forward and read it anyway. The same skill was soon apparent. It would have been very easy to be maudlin about a childless man in an arid marriage finding an abandoned newborn babe. Hyde avoids such sentimentality by employing a sparse prosaic style that captures the inarticulacy of the foundling and the laconic speech of his finder. The themes of Pay It Forward are revisited without being rehashed in an uplifting tale of human bonding.