Dreaming of flight (by Catherine Ryan Hyde)

(Amazon UK link)

I have liked all the books I’ve read so far by Catherine Ryan Hyde. So from time to time I put a couple more on my wishlist. I was given ‘Dreaming of flight’ for my birthday two years ago, but have a lot of books on my to-be-read shelf. So I’ve only just read it in the past few days.

What an excellent book it is, too. There are two main characters, and the chapters alternate between them. The first one we meet is Stewie. He’s eleven years old when we meet him in the first part of the book, which is labelled ‘late spring, early summer’. We quickly learn that he keeps hens, and sells eggs. He’s quite a perfectionist, and his eggs are always fresh. They are vastly superior to those bought in the supermarket.

When we meet him, he’s just knocked on the door of a house where he hasn’t previously been. It’s opened by a woman with a five-year-old daughter, who says she doesn’t want any eggs. Then she’s interrupted by a rather older woman, who says, somewhat abruptly, that she will have some. Stewie feels a strange sense of recognition; she’s a grandmother, and there’s something about her that reminds him of his own beloved grandmother, who died some months earlier. 

The older woman, Marilyn, is the other main protagonist. She’s a crusty kind of person who speaks her mind, although it’s also quickly clear that she has a secret in her past. She’s terrified that someone is going to come and arrest her; we don’t learn until much later in the book what crime she is supposed to have committed. She’s not related to the younger woman, but lives rent-free in exchange for babysitting while the mother is out at work. 

Unfortunately, Marilyn is getting a bit forgetful. Stewie recognises that as his grandmother had some dementia before she died. And Stewie is observant. He is also very caring, feeling everything much more deeply than most of those around him. He reads faces with ease, and dreads making anyone sad or angry. He also dislikes looks of compassion or pity. He hasn’t spoken much about the loss of his grandmother, which hit him deeply. Stewie was orphaned soon after he was born, and has been brought up by his sister Stacey. 

Stewie and Stacey have another brother, Hughie. Hughie is older than Stewie, and very bright. But he is physically disabled, so he walks with crutches. At the school they go to, Hughie is often verbally bullied. He tries to let it go over his head, but Stewie becomes passionately angry on his brother’s behalf. 

I found myself totally absorbed in these diverse people, living in a small town in the United States. It’s a character-based book, and I found all the main characters believable and three-dimensional. I loved the way that Stewie started to care for Marilyn, even if his family felt that he was taking too much responsibility on his young shoulders. And I also liked the way that he somehow gets through Marilyn’s defences, so much so that she wants to help him with some things he finds difficult. 

There are a lot of interesting topics touched upon in the book. I hadn’t thought about the hidden trauma that goes with being an orphan even when a child is too young to have any memory of his parents. Stewie starts seeing a psychologist who seems to be full of wisdom, even if he can’t actually solve any of Stewie’s issues. And it’s not that being a caring person is a bad thing; Stewie just hasn’t come to terms with the fact that he can’t solve everybody’s problems all the time. 

The book also looks at issues related to housing for the elderly, and who needs to make decisions when someone is unable to look after themselves safely. It’s not a straightforward question, and I thought there was an excellent balance shown between the elderly person’s rights and the opinions and wishes of family members and medical staff. 

And there’s quite a bit about keeping hens, too. Stewie’s hens used to belong to his grandmother, but some of them are getting old and he has to decide what to do. There’s also a brief scene where he tries to encourage one of the hens to fly, although he then realises that it would be cruel to enter her for a competition. His empathy extends to his hens, and he seems to know how they feel, and what their needs are. The title of the book can be seen in more than one way; Stewie dreams about his hen flying, but other characters also dream of flight in a more metaphorical way.

Once I had started, I could barely put this book down. It’s not that there’s much excitement or rapid action; the pace was perfect for my tastes, and Stewie totally got under my skin. The final chapter is perhaps a tad over the top, but from Stewie’s point of view, it more than fulfils something he has lacked all his life. 

Definitely recommended if you like this kind of character-driven women’s fiction.

Review copyright 2025 Sue's Book Reviews