Catherine Ryan Hyde's novels deal with the human condition --- our complex natures, our frailties and the mistakes we make, as well as our ability to forgive, learn, change and show compassion to others. All of her books feature, to some extent, unlikely people who forge families. In FALLING APART AND OTHER GIFTS FROM THE UNIVERSE, we meet Addie Finch, who hides her emotions behind the brittle walls she has erected around herself.