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Sarah Ladens is struggling to keep her family intact after the death of her husband. Her oldest son, Nate, has been getting in trouble at school and her youngest, Danny is barely getting by.
Sarah learns that her best friend is charged with a horrendous crime against her son, a classmate of Danny’s, as well as several other young children in this small, close-knit town. Sarah must determine who to believe–the scathing evidence the police has found, or her best friend.

And caught in the middle is Jordan, Danny’s classmate. Jordan has never known what it feels like to really be loved. Now, without parents, he’s destined to become part of the foster care system. The Ladens step up and offer to foster him.

After a long and difficult struggle, the Ladens, once again a family of four all begins to heal.

The Kindness of Strangers is powerful and full of emotion. Katrina Kittle deals with a sensitive topic that is often buried. The emotion that each of the characters experience is genuine and believable. The reader feels that they are part of the story, a member of the community that is forced to deal with this horrendous crime. .

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Jamilet is a beautiful young woman from a small town in Mexico. Throughout her life she has been shunned by local townspeople because of a horrible birthmark that taints her back and part of her legs.She flees to Los Angeles illegally in order to seek treatment for her birthmark and begins working at a local mental institution. Her patient is an elderly man named Antonio, a difficult and angry man from Spain. Antonio insists that his true name is Señor Peregrino. Antonio steals Jamilet’s illegal immigration documents and promises to return them upon the condition that she listens to his story. Jamilet agrees, and thus begins an unbreakable bond.

Antonio’s story details his pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago in Spain with his friend Tomas prior to joining the priesthood. The young men meet two young women: Rosa, a beautiful but destitute woman and Jenny, a plain but wealthy woman. Both Antonio and Tomas instantly fall in love with Rosa. Antonio and Rosa promise to get married once they reach Santiago. Upon arrival, Antonio learns from Jenny that Rosa has instead married Tomas. Antonio marries Jenny, but doesn’t learn the truth about Rosa until years later. He is so pained by the revelation that he isolates himself in his room at the institution.

Inspired by Antonio’s story, Jamilet learns that her mark does not define her as a person. Beauty is more than skin deep. She breaks herself free of the shell that has been preventing her from opening up and allowing herself to love.
The ending of the story was a bit sudden; several aspects were left hanging, but this doesn’t detract from the powerful storytelling.

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