Seven Perfect Things

4.5★s "I just think it's odd how we parse out our empathy. Why we only have empathy for those who remind us most of ourselves. I'm not saying I don't understand it. Sure, it's easy to have empathy for someone who's just like us. It comes naturally. I just think it's a shame we can't take it a bit further. I can't help wondering what the world would be like if our empathy muscle were a bit more developed."

Seven Perfect Things is a novel by award-winning American author, Catherine Ryan Hyde. Thirteen-year-old Abigail Hubble saves seven puppies that are thrown into the river, and when she runs out of options, she installs them in a shed behind a seemingly-abandoned hunting cabin in the hills. She knows there's no point in bringing them home: her father would object simply because having them would make her happy. She breaks into her savings to buy what they need, and spends all her free time at the cabin.

At fifty-two, Elliot Colvin has just lost his wife to a long illness, and he's all at sea, overwhelmed by grief. "The grief made the simplest movements of life feel like more than he could bear, and he had no idea how long he would have to live this way ... he might have forty years of life left. How many days was that without her?"

Once an avid hunter, his wife's passing put that into a new perspective, but a colleague suggests a visit to his cabin anyway. Perhaps he can find some peace there? A litter of puppies is really the last thing he expects. And what he learns at the county animal shelter in no way prepares him for the angry teen at his cabin, berating him, on his return, for his actions. Eventually, apologies are proffered from both sides...

Mary Hubble has been lying to her husband. He's never been violent, but he enjoys his control over every aspect of her life, even dictating with whom she might, at forty-five years old, be friends. When he discovers her small cash stash, she wonders if she can ever escape this loveless marriage to a man who also withholds any form of affection, affirmation or encouragement from his teenaged daughter. For Stan Hubble "everything he saw seemed to deserve that scorn in his eyes. He poured it over everything like dessert topping."

Soon after she meets Elliot, Abby judges that this is an adult she can respect, one who would make a great father, fleetingly wishing he could be her father, but realistically dismissing that wish: that's not her life. For his part, Elliot is impressed, not just with Abby's determination to care for seven puppies, but also the fact that she shows more empathy than many of his adult friends.

Abby tells him: "Well, turns out it's impossible to be unhappy when you're lying on your back with a bunch of puppies all around you, doing what puppies do. Trust me. I know. I may not know everything, but I know all about this."

When they eventually meet, Mary and Elliot find an intellectual connection, enjoying deep, thought-provoking discussion. And if there's a tiny spark of attraction between them, well, nothing can come of that: Mary is married, and Elliot still feels married to Pat. But Elliot does worry about Mary and Abby, and offers a city refuge…

And then their lives change in a major way: without a moment's notice, Stan Hubble packs up his family and takes them away.

As with all Catherine Ryan Hyde's novels, this one is very much character-driven, and what a wonderful cast she gives the reader. Her three protagonists all have something to offer each other, be it wise words, insights or shelter of some sort. If the behaviour some of those in the story is disappointing, the loyalty of friends and the kindness of several strangers restores the reader's faith in humanity. A truly heart-warming read. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing.