Walk Me Home, a contemporary novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde, is a poignant story of two sisters in search of family.

Carly, 16 and her little sister Jen, 11, can no longer live at home. Their mother’s string of boyfriends is just more than they can bear. Her previous boyfriend, Teddy, was good to them, but she kicked him out of the house. The current boyfriend is mean, even to their mother. When they learn their mother and her boyfriend are killed in an automobile accident, the girls leave before authorities can put them in foster care.

When they learn that Teddy, the closest thing they have to family, is now some place in Northern California they set out on a journey across the American Southwest. They start out riding their bicycles, then walking, eventually hitchhiking, then again walking. It’s tough going, their shoes wear out, they’re hungry, thirsty, and it’s unbearably hot.

The girls, desperate for food, come upon a run-down farm on a Native American reservation and attempt to steal eggs from a chicken shed. However, in order to get inside the shed they have to damage the fence surrounding it. The owner, an old cantankerous, nearly blind woman catches them, and the only way out is to work off their debt or be reported to the police. After a few days Carly is determined to travel on in search of Teddy, but Jen, content to stay where she is, stays behind. Alone, Carly walks, hitchhikes and even hops a train, in search of Teddy.

Walk Me Home is a story of determination and resilience. The girls suffer many hardships and heartaches, but the concern and kindness of others is at the core of this story. Trust is sometimes hard to find, and even harder to recognize. I have read several novels by Catherine Ryan Hyde and this is yet another excellent story.