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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Wonderful
: This stunning novel by Ann Napolitano is about a 12-year old boy, Edward, learning to cope with his physical and emotional trauma after a tragic plane crash claims the lives of all other passengers, including his parents and beloved older brother.
: The tragic sorrow, grief, and loss Edward experiences is met with love, friendship, and hope in this coming of age story.
: It examines the ways in which one can find the strength to keep moving from that space between living and merely surviving when buoyed by consistent friendship, honesty, and love.
: Edward’s loss and grief is simply heartbreaking. It put me in a melancholy mood and many times had me yearning for a loved one’s embrace. If you enjoy novels that both break and soothe your heart, then I recommend this one.
I really liked this book. I thought it was thought provoking, and I came to like the characters, which is important to me. Edward was portrayed very realistically and while it was hard to read about what he went through, it was rewarding to see how he was liberated from his emotional burdens. His path towards adulthood was very difficult but the author was successful in allowing and encouraging the reader to stay with him until the end. Good read.
I loved this book. Emotional and evocative. Worth every minute.
I really liked this book. Believe characters. Very original.
It’s a long, drawn-out account of one child’s plane crash survival. It’s unrealistic, but not impossible, that one child survived. It was not a “page-turner” by any account but haunting.
One of those rare books you put down after finishing and are left wondering about and longing for the trajectory of the main character’s life long afterwards. This one pulls at all the heartstrings. Bravo, Ann Napolitano.
When one of my reading friends really presses me to read a book I know to pay attention and I’m so glad I did as without that recommendation I might not have picked up Dear Edward. I’ve a husband who flies a lot for work and three children so a novel about a plane crash where the only survivor is a 12 yr old boy doesn’t jump off the shelf for me. But… what a book! Beautifully written and observed, tender, sad, hopeful and thoughtful. I read it in a day. Loved every word.
Extraordinary.
Absolutely beautiful, inspiring, lovely prose that will grab your heart and attention for hours—then leave you pondering all the levels of meaning in this story. Read it!
Heartbreaking and wonderful and soothing and troubling and gorgeous. Napolitano’s prose is just beautiful and the way she weaves together all the threads in this tender tale of hurt and healing was just what I needed in the uncertain spring of 2020. One for the ages.
Edward survives a plane crash, but it changes his life forever. Wonderful read.
I absolutely loved this book about a boy who is the lone survivor of a plane wreck involving a large commercial jet. The prose is beautifully written, and the story is positive and hopeful. Such a great read.
I did love this story. I found the back and forth between scenes on the plane and Edward afterwards, a little jarring and unnecessary. I think the same effect could have been successfully managed if he had received all the letters earlier, and we met the characters that way, through those left behind. However, given that I am not a fan of flying and have experienced some terrifying turbulence, that might explain my feelings on this point. 🙂 Lovely story though, I really enjoyed it.
The author’s words to describe the feelings of the characters are amazing! I feel as if I am standing right next to the characters. I feel like I have known them for years!!
Sad but insightful novel.
4.75 Stars!
Dear Edward was a fascinating book. With wonderful insight and emotion, the author created a fully developed and mesmerizing story by interweaving glimpses of multiple passengers lives with sole-survivor Edward’s. This was Edward’s coming of age story after losing his immediate family, as well as what the effect of his surviving had on himself and others. It was rich in details, profound, and deeply moving. I read a lot of books in a year. Some I tolerate, most I enjoy, and then there are those that I love with a passion and/or stay deeply rooted in my psyche. I predict that Dear Edward will be the latter.
This book. Riveting, painful, beautiful, and inspiring. Loved every single word, every page, even the most difficult ones. Kudos to the author for delving inside this frightening topic but finding the rare joy and triumphs that come from it.
Wow! This was a beautiful story of a young boy who is the lone survivor of a plane crash, and his life after the crash. He struggles to make sense of why he survived. He struggles with the feelings of loss for his parents and his older brother. He struggles to be part of the world, now living with his aunt and uncle.
The story alternates between the plane ride and the characters on the plane, and the life after the plane crash. Edward is helped through this new reality with his next door neighbor, Shay, who helps him rediscover himself. Together they piece together the stories of the other passengers, and in doing so, find Edward.
It is a beautifully told story, raw with emotion and hope.
#DearEdward #AnnNapolitano
4.5 stars. The sole survivor, Edward loses his entire family in a plane crash. Napolitano captures the 12-year-old’s desperation, guilt, grief, and healing while weaving in the story of other passengers traveling through the air to their fate. This is such a beautifully written book I didn’t want it to end yet, at the same time, I yearned for a resolution to Edward’s personal journey. The half star was taken off because Napolitano needed additional descriptors at the beginning to separate one passenger from another.