Short Synopsis
From the bestselling author of Don't Let Me Go and Pay It Forward, Walter's Purple Heart is a flight of sheer imagination: the story of a love affair that spans two lives, two incarnations—and the many repercussions of a young life cut short by war.

Full Synopsis
Michael Steeb is an aimless twenty-one-year-old pot farmer in Central California in the 1980s. He has no real plans or interests . . . until the day he connects with memories of a life that seems to belong to someone else. That "spirit" is Walter, a young American soldier killed in World War II.

Michael's task is the near-impossible: to lead Walter's family to closure and peace, to deliver the real truth behind Walter's Purple Heart, and to somehow achieve the forgiveness absent for so many years so Walter can move on. Michael sets out to find Walter's best friend, Andrew, and Mary Ann, the fiancée Walter left behind. Mary Ann recognizes Walter in Michael immediately. But Andrew sets out to prove that Michael is the worst sort of con man.

Narrated in large part by Walter from beyond the grave, Walter's Purple Heart is a fast-paced war drama and a deeply felt romance, with a unique twist on the prospect of multiple lives. Catherine Ryan Hyde paints an enduring portrait of a life prematurely lost, and the endless ripples of consequence to those who loved him, in a microcosm that sheds light on the true gravity of war.

"Kirby Heyborne's narration transforms the author's complicated novel into a fascinating story that defies easy characterization." ---AudioFile

"Heartwarming . . . Hyde has a sure touch with affairs of the heart." ---Publishers Weekly

"Thoroughly engrossing, the book does not allow for skipping a single page . . . Both sentimental and heartwarming, this novel delivers all the ingredients for a day of leisure reading." ---School Library Journal

"Hyde's previous novels contain an element of the extraordinary, and this one is no different. With humor and thoughtfulness, Hyde crafts a plot unconventional yet comfortably familiar." ---Booklist