Ask Him Why

From New York Times bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde comes a stunning, emotional story of a young soldier’s unthinkable act…and the unbreakable bonds between a sister and brother.

Ruth and her little brother, Aubrey, are just teenagers when their older brother ships off to Iraq. When Joseph returns, uninjured, only three and a half months later, Ruth is happy he is safe but also deeply worried. How can it be that her courageous big brother has been dishonorably discharged for refusing to go out on duty? Aubrey can’t believe that his hero doesn’t have very good reasons.

Yet as the horrifying details of the incident emerge, Joseph disappears. In their attempts to find him, Ruth and Aubrey discover he has a past far darker than either of them could imagine. But even as they learn more about their brother, important questions remain unanswered—why did he betray his unit, his country, and now his family? Joseph’s refusal to speak ignites a fire in young Aubrey that results in a disastrous, and public, act of rebellion.

The impact of Joseph’s fateful decision one night in Baghdad will echo for years to come, with his siblings caught between their love for him and the media’s engulfing frenzy of judgment. Will their family ever make their way back to each other and find a way to forgive?

Born in Buffalo, New York, Catherine Ryan Hyde moved to New York City shortly after graduating from high school. With a plan to do something other than writing—something that might provide a steadier paycheck—Hyde worked as a baker, pastry chef, auto mechanic, dog trainer, and tour guide. Hyde moved to a small town on California’s Central Coast in the mid-1980s. After coming to terms with alcohol and drug addiction, she realized she needed to write and hunkered down. She’s been clean and sober for over twenty-five years and is the author of thirty books and numerous short stories, which have won literary accolades throughout the world. Hyde’s bestselling novel Pay It Forward was adapted into a major motion picture and translated into more than two dozen languages for distribution in over thirty countries.