In this extraordinary novel, David Haynes tells the heartrending story of Marshall's journey through a broken world, where his father's new girlfriend, a poem by Yeats and a white teacher with big plans for her favorite students all seem to have the power to change him. And as Marshall struggles to make sense of his life, the haunting letters begin to arrive from his runaway mother: "We are linked tighter than fine gold chains. Who knows when we'll next be together--"a tale of the ties that bind and the ties that fall away, Right by My Side is a cry from the heart, and a masterful novel of love and awakening by one of America's most gifted young writers.