Listen — Nancy Coffelt

Three lives intersect unexpectedly in this unique, compelling story. First there's Will, an eighteen-year-old living alone since his mother died and his drug- and alcohol-addled brother went to jail. Then there's Kurt, a troubled fourteen-year-old loner still reeling after the death of his mother's abusive boyfriend and from his part in it. And finally there's Carrie, a middle-aged schizophrenic who "hears" the thoughts of the abused and neglected neighborhood animals she rescues. When Carrie and Kurt meet, she offers to pay him for each "stray" cat or dog he delivers. But when Carrie's "rescuing" goes too far, events spiral dangerously out of control. Told from alternating viewpoints, Listen is the haunting story of people thrown together by fate, each struggling to come to terms with their harrowing past.