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Hello Beautiful

The poignant and uplifting New York Times bestselling family saga

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward comes a beautifully tender, heartbreaking, and moving story of four sisters over three decades

Meet the Padvano girls. Best friends and sisters, they are thought of as inseparable by everyone in their close-knit Chicago neighbourhood. Julia, the eldest, is the "rocket" of the family - she always has a destination in mind and clear plans for how to get there. Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book and imagines a life for herself other than the expected path of wife and mother. Cecelia and Emmeline, the twins, are the artist and the caregiver. From childhood, the four sisters complete each other, expecting that their family will always be intact.

When Julia falls in love with William Walters, a history student and college sports star, she's delighted by the way her plans for adulthood are coming together. A husband, a house, a family. But when darkness from William's past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who steps in to help. Suddenly, things shift. Dynamics and relationships, priorities and secrets - everything that was once a given no longer is.

Rich and vivid, heartbreaking and heart-mending, Hello Beautiful captures the joy, tragedy, trust, and betrayal to ask: what does it mean to be a family? And once shattered, can it be pieced back together?

***Praise for Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano***

'Wonderful . . . a beautifully written coming-of-age story' Nina Stibbe

'Powerful' New York Times

'Ann Napolitano's writing is astonishing. I'm in awe' Marian Keyes

'Moving and emotional' Anne Tyler

'That rare book that breaks your heart and stitches it back together' Jodi Picoult

'Stunning, life-affirming' Vogue

'Made me think, nod in recognition, care about its characters, and cry, and you can't ask more of a novel than that' Emma Donoghue

©2023 Ann Napolitano (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Marriage Heartfelt Tear-jerking Feel-Good

Critic reviews

This is a story about family, and sisters... and how love can be redeemed (Therese Anne Fowler, author of It All Comes Down to This)
As addictive as last year's The Paper Palace
I read this while traveling from London to Manchester and very nearly missed my stop on the train. It was that good (Abi Daré)
A novel of rare yet classic beauty
Napolitano’s luminously beautiful novel explores the space between truth and self-delusion to incredibly moving effect
All stars
Most relevant
Wonderful story about imperfect humans leading to hope for us all. So enjoyable to hear.

Lovely story with hope

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I, like many, picked this for its streams of rave reviews (and the cool cover) and to be honest, I’m now a bit confused as to why so many love it. I found the first two thirds incredibly boring - a mundane play-by-play of the lives of four sisters, the eldest of which is incredibly unlikeable. Not much happened until late in the book and even then, much of it felt uninteresting. It was far too long and repetitive due to the nature of the structure, but I feel like there are much better ways to handle the perspectives without such parroting. I’d probably swerve future books by this author.

Quite a slog

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Hearing the various narrators left me feeling like I was getting to know each character and how they developed over the years. The idea that we are affected by the previous generations and their choices runs through this book but the adult sisters also make choices for themselves.
It’s the first book I’ve read with a character who suffers from depression and it’s interwoven with other characters stories rather than the main focus. Being acquainted with depression, that strand was something that rang true.
There is also a strand of hope running through the interwoven stories.

Beautiful and compelling

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the narrator drew me in before the tale did, but once in, ohboy! what a ride! enjoyed every worrd

feel all the feels and enjoy doing it

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The only book I’ve scored 10/10 in the many years since I started rating what I read.

Perfect in every way

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