Life, Loss, and Puffins: A Novel

Red River Road by Catherine Ryan Hyde is an emotional and uplifting novel about grief, hope, and friendship.

Ru Evans, a thirteen-year-old genius with an eidetic memory, has always been labeled “freakishly smart.” Living away from home to attend college, she befriends Gabriel, a seventeen-year-old loner who understands what it’s like to not fit in.

When Ru’s mother dies and she faces being sent to live with her unpleasant aunt, she and Gabriel impulsively run away on a road trip from California to Canada so Ru can see Atlantic puffins—her lifelong dream.

Along the journey, Ru experiences true friendship, freedom, and the beauty of life for the first time, finding joy in the open road, the night skies, and the aurora borealis, even knowing their adventure can’t last forever.