Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Love in the Present Tense

By: Catherine Ryan Hyde
Narrated by: David Coburn, Jeremy Redleaf, Duana Speights
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £11.99

Buy Now for £11.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Richard and Judy Best Read, 2007.
A Richard and Judy Book Club Selection.

"So much of how it was started when that cop got out....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 anyone would have to die."

Leonard is an eerily wise five-year-old boy with asthma, terrible eyesight, and the ability to captivate everyone he meets.

Pearl is Leonard's devoted teenage mother, desperately trying to hide a violent secret from her past.

Mitch is Leonard's 25-year-old next-door neighbour, busy running his own company and entertaining the Mayor's wife.

Then one day Pearl drops Leonard off with Mitch, and never returns.

How do you go on loving someone who isn't there? As truth and fiction, memory and dreams collide, Mitch finds himself learning from a surprising source the true, magical definition of love.

©Catherine Ryan Hyde; (P)Random House
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Where We Belong cover art
Ask Him Why cover art
When You Were Older cover art
The Language of Hoofbeats cover art
Don't Let Me Go cover art
Leaving Blythe River cover art
Second Hand Heart cover art
Stay cover art
The Wake Up cover art
Boy Underground cover art
Just After Midnight cover art
My Name Is Anton cover art
So Long, Chester Wheeler cover art
Dreaming of Flight cover art
Heaven Adjacent cover art
Seven Perfect Things cover art

Critic reviews

"Haunting." (Washington Post)
"A work of art...enchanting." (San Francisco Chronicle)
"Hyde excels in her story of a love that transcends time, place, and human weakness." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Love in the Present Tense

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A little gem

I don't normally like abridged books I was sufficiently intrigued to give it a go. I am so glad I did. I thought it was an incredibly unusual story. On one hand it could be seen as a sentimental exploration of the enduring nature of a mother's love. The story is however very gritty in places and I thought that Max's love story was heart wrenching.
I still think about this book several months after finishing it. This may be an abridged version but it was still a completely satisfying listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful