Love In The Present Tense- Catherine Ryan Hyde

"A remarkable story of the magic of love" Daily Express.

Mitch is a 25-year-old with commitment issues. Leonard is a five-year-old kid with asthma and vision problems, who captivates everyone he meets. Pearl is Leonard's teenage mother, who's trying to hide a violent secret from her past. Life has given Pearl every reason to mistrust people, but circumstances force her to trust her neighbour, Mitch. Then one day, with a heart full of agony, Pearl drops Leonard off with Mitch and never returns. Pearl, Leonard and Mitch each have a story to tell and as their lives unfold, profound questions arise about the nature of love and family. How do you go on loving someone who isn't there? With Leonard's absolute conviction in 'forever love' always present, Leonard and Mitch grow up side by side and piece together the layered truths and fictions of their almost magical lives. The answers are heartbreaking, but ultimately triumphant.

I read this book as it was selected for Richard and Judy's Book Club, novels I have yet to be disappointed by. The author, Catherine Ryan Hyde, I was suprised to discover is also the author of Pay It Forward an enchanting film (starring Helen Hunt, Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment) and an even better novel.
The book is riveting from the first page. Beginning the story is Pearl, a neglected and lonely child, hungry for love. "So much of how it was started when that cop got out and came up to me. But I didn't know all this when it first happened. I didn't know there would ever be a Leonard, or that this man would be his father, or that anybody would have to die.
The reader knows Pearl's story, yet Mitch and Leonard are clueless, and throughout the book Leonard tries to find his mother. Despite the fact that she is not around, her son believes Pearl is always with him, and his concept of "forever love" is a sweet one.
I did feel that in places the book was a little twee and sacharine, but the story is a beautiful one, and so I can overlook this.