By Robert Dugoni

While the fact that Sam Hill has red eyes due to a rare genetic condition is made a central issue in this book, the book is also not really about that. It is more the story of a young boy growing up in 1960s, 70s, 80s San Francisco Bay Area with his amazing parents, navigating some ruthless bullying but also finding some wonderful friends. His mom occupies a strong presence in his life with her rock-solid Catholic faith. She reminded me of Grandma Finigan with their shared devotion to Mary. While this will particularly resonate with those of you Catholics who lived through Catholic schools in that era and will extra resonate with my fellow Bay Area folks (you will recognize OLM, Serra and other local places), it is also just a lovely story about nice people. It is universally appealing.