Hello Beautiful

Description

From New York Times bestselling author Ann Napolitano comes a rich, life-affirming, and heartbreaking novel about sisterhood, family, love, and growing up Best friends and sisters, the four Padvano girls are thought of as inseparable by everyone in their close-knit Chicago neighbourhood. Julia, the eldest, is a planner. 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. But when Julia falls in love with William Walters, their lives change. As William falls into darkness, it is Sylvie, not Julie, who steps in to help. Spanning decades and generations, HELLO BEAUTIFUL captures what it means to be a family -- the joy and tragedy, the deep trust and devastating betrayals. Split apart by stubbornness and heartbreak, the Padavano family scatters across the country. Will the love and loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together?

Ann Napolitano is the author of the novels A Good Hard Look and Within Arm's Reach. She is also the Assistant Editor of One Story literary magazine. She received an MFA from New York University; she has taught fiction writing for Brooklyn College's MFA program, New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies and for Gotham Writers' Workshop. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children.

A rich, complex family saga, Hello Beautiful is a portrait of love and grief in equal measure. Napolitano's prose is so lovely, so keenly perceptive, that it held me captive until I finished. A lot of people are going to love this story -- Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes Like great jazz, Hello Beautiful takes a melody and transforms it. This is a richly-woven story about family, but it's also a unique take on Little Women. There are no heroes or villains here, only people--flawed and loving and striving like the rest of us. Generosity is the word that comes to mind when I reflect on this gorgeous novel -- Allegra Goodman, New York Times bestselling author of The Cookbook Collector and Sam Ann Napolitano's writing is astonishing -- Marian Keyes, Sunday Times bestselling author of Again, Rachel A profoundly moving and propulsive novel of the deepest connections of family and love, trauma and healing. In intricately elegant prose, Ann Napolitano explores both the cost and power of loyalty and honesty. A book to treasure and share with friends and loved ones -- Angie Kim, bestselling author of Miracle Creek