NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today • A “dazzling” novel that “will break your heart and put it back together again” (J. Courtney Sullivan, bestselling author of Saints for All Occasions) about a young boy who must learn to go on after surviving tragedy NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Parade • LibraryReads • “A reading … Washington Post • Parade • LibraryReads • “A reading experience that leaves you profoundly altered for the better . . . Don’t miss this one.”—Jodi Picoult, bestselling author of Small Great Things and A Spark of Light
What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?
One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them are a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured veteran returning from Afghanistan, a business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.
Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a part of himself has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery—one that will lead him to the answers of some of life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything, how do you find the strength to put one foot in front of the other? How do you learn to feel safe again? How do you find meaning in your life?
Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again.
Praise for Dear Edward
“Dear Edward 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, New York Times bestselling author of Room
“Weaving past and present into a profoundly beautiful, page-turning story of mystery, loss, and wonder, Dear Edward is a meditation on survival, but more important, it is about carving a life worth living. It is about love and hope and caring for others, and all the transitory moments that bind us together.”—Hannah Tinti, author of The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley and The Good Thief
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Such a good book!
An insightful view of recovery from a horrible trauma.
Lovely book with a surprise ending. SO worth your time to read this book!
This was very well written with an interesting take on dual timeline. The Adler family (Bruce & Jane and sons Jordan, 15 and Eddie 12) is flying from NYC to LA for the mom, Jane, to take a new job. There are several others on this flight who take the opportunity to tell you their stories— the beautiful and frustrated flight attendant, a young pregnant woman terrified for the future, a bitter and dying tycoon, an injured soldier flying back home, and a few others.
Then we’re suddenly in the hospital with Eddie after a disaster—the plane crashed in Colorado and he’s the only survivor. The world is obsessed with Edward, but he only wants to go back to normal. He befriends the teenage neighbor girl, Shay and struggles to find a way to live with the crash and all the psychological damage that goes with it. Meanwhile we periodically flip backward in time to the plane ride, watching the people we know will die and praying somehow, someway, we might have gotten it wrong.
The middle lags a touch with Edwards journey being a little flat—the stakes stay fairly consistent. BUT I still highly recommend this one.
I listened to this one and the narrator was fantastic.
Very predictable.
Intriguing story, thought provoking. Well done
This book is a beautifully written story of a family and a young man’s circumstances and personal growth after a tragedy. The characters are sweet, funny, realistic, and resilient. It is sad, but works to a happier ending. I loved this story.
This is the story of a young boy named Edward. He and his family are flying across the country to California for a big family move when their plane crashes killing everyone on board except for Edward. His story captures the country and he struggles to figure out what to do now that his whole family is gone. Taken in by a loving aunt and uncle who never had children, he is not sure how to fit in.
He meets the girl next door, and they form an instant bond. Together with his aunt, uncle, his friend and his counselor, Edward starts to move forward. The book goes back and forth between the few years following the crash to the people who are on board the plane. Edward tries to figure out how he – as the only one who survived – can help all of the families of the other passengers.
I had actually started a book for my Read The World Challenge, and had pulled Dear Edward for my “book to read at night”. But I started this book and couldn’t put it down, so I quit the other to finish this one. IT was a great book. I was so tense knowing that the plane crash was coming, and how it was going to play out in those final moments before it hit the ground. And when the crash finally happens, I found myself overwhelmed with feelings about how that must have been for those people on board.
The book is well written and flows well between the past and present. You feel Edward’s struggle with what to make of all the attention and the loss of his family at the age of 12. He has lost everything he knew. And it takes him years to finally come to terms with what his life would be life from now on. You can feel his turmoil.
I highly recommend. It was a great read.
It was on Read with Jenna and I try to read all her books but this is my favorite so far
A very good story like nothing I have ever read, which I like. It’s always nice to read something new with a subject that is new so we can open our minds. It is a sad story and sometimes I didn’t like the characters who seem to not be aware that Edward is suffering and only can think of how he can help them. That is real life though. It is also uplifting to watch Edward take control of his life and do what is necessary to get himself through a tragedy. It shows the many ways to grieve and how we need to be aware and open to everyone’s grief process.
A little slow but makes a point. It picks up and gets better. I like the ending.
Such a well written and thoughtful exploration of grief, I couldn’t put it down.
I wasn’t sure if I liked it, or where it was going, at the beginning, but after a few unexpected turns, I couldn’t put it down. I highly recommend this book.
This book twisted my heart in every direction. Characters were very believable. Interesting plot
I liked this one. It was melancholy (obviously.) Really liked how it all tied together at the end. Don’t want to get on a plane for a while.
Loved the characters and how the author told the back stories of the passengers who died in the crash.
This is a great choice for a book club
Very good read. 12 year old Eddie is on a flight from Newark to LA along with his family: his 15 yr old brother Jordan and his parents. His mother has accepted a new writing position in LA so the family is moving from NYC. The book alternates between the flight and peeks at some of the passengers and then “after” with Edward now living with his Aunt and Uncle in NJ. Edward is considered an oddity by many … but his next door neighbor, Shay, a girl his age accepts him for himself. His uncle has shielded him from any media contact re the crash and later Edward discovers several duffle bags full of letters … mostly from family and relatives of the passengers that perished in the crash. This sets Edward and Shay off on a mission of responding to the letters and sometimes meeting them or helping in some way.
I really got into this book. I cared about every single character and was rooting for them throughout the story.
Not my usual genre, but a very good story! Original and heartfelt.