364 pages | Paperback

From New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde comes a feel-good story of four outcasts who learn that some bonds are stronger than blood.

On an isolated Texas ranch, Dr. Lucy cares for abandoned animals. The solitude allows her to avoid the people and places that remind her of the past. Not that any of the townsfolk care. In 1959, no one is interested in a woman doctor. Nor are they welcoming Calvin and Justin Bell, a newly arrived African American father and son.

When Pete Solomon, a neglected twelve-year-old boy, and Justin bring a wounded wolf-dog hybrid to Dr. Lucy, the outcasts soon find refuge in one another. Lucy never thought shed make connections again, never mind fall in love. Pete never imagined hed find friends as loyal as Justin and the dog. But these four people arent allowed to be friends, much less a family, when the whole town turns violently against them.

With heavy hearts, Dr. Lucy and Pete say goodbye to Calvin and Justin. But through the years they keep hope alivewaiting for the world to catch up with them.