Hello Beautiful Oprahs Book Club, Ann Napolitano
Hello Beautiful Oprahs Book Club, Ann Napolitano
89 Rating(s)
List: $22.50 | Sale: $15.75
Club: $11.25

Hello Beautiful (Oprah's Book Club)

Bestseller

Author: Ann Napolitano

Narrator: Maura Tierney

Unabridged: 15 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/14/2023


Synopsis

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • MORE THAN ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD! From the author of Dear Edward comes a “powerfully affecting” (People) family story that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?

“Another tender tearjerker . . . Napolitano chronicles life’s highs and lows with aching precision.”—The Washington Post

ONE OF THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The Washington Post, Time, Vogue, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, New York Post, She Reads, Bookreporter

William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him—so when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano in his freshman year of college, it’s as if the world has lit up around him. With Julia comes her family, as she and her three sisters are inseparable: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. With the Padavanos, William experiences a newfound contentment; every moment in their house is filled with loving chaos.

But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable devotion to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?

An exquisite homage to Louisa May Alcott’s timeless classic, Little Women, Hello Beautiful is a profoundly moving portrait of what is possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it.

About Ann Napolitano

An American author, Ann Napolitano, had received her MFA from New York University and taught fiction writing for Brooklyn College, NY University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and for Gotham Writer's Workshop.

Ann's new novel, Dear Edward, was published in 2020 by Dial Press. It has been published by various publishers in different countries. Her two other books are A Good Hard Look, and Within Arm's Reach, which was adapted to a theatrical production in 2014 in New York City.

Napolitano lives with her husband and two children in Brooklyn, New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Nilufer on December 28, 2024

This heart-wrenching, emotional family saga will shake you to the core. The three-dimensional, layered characterization, and references to Little Women make it easy to connect with each character as they feel like lifelong friends. The Padavona sisters resemble the March sisters, although they were......more

Goodreads review by Jayme on March 14, 2023

OUTLIER ALERT! Not quite my cup of tea! 🫖 From the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward comes a poignant and engrossing family story that asks: Can love make a broken person whole? I have to be honest-this was almost a DNF for me. I picked it up and put it down, read another book, and pic......more

Goodreads review by Karen on March 24, 2023

Achingly Beautiful.. William Waters grew up without any love or attention from his parents who had lost their first child, a little girl, just previous to his birth. They were consumed by grief. He picks up a basketball as a young boy and it gets him through tough times, just dribbling and going to th......more

Goodreads review by Canadian Jen on May 05, 2023

So, here I sit in a bit of a conundrum. On the onset, given all the shining star reviews this one had, I thought I would feel the same glow. I didn’t. It wasn’t until I started the dreaded skim that it picked up -three quarters through. Napolatino, you took too long to get leverage. My expectations......more

Goodreads review by Jan on April 24, 2023

This book is filled with odd, one-dimensional characters that did some odd things and I didn't like most of them. Four too close for comfort sisters and one shadow of a man round out the main cast here. William might as well have been a ghost throughout most of the story, then that thing happened. T......more


Quotes

“Radiant and brilliantly crafted . . . Napolitano’s [work] resists the easy satisfactions of the sentimental and never settles for simple answers to emotional predicaments faced by her characters.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)

“This sumptuous family saga is one of those rare novels whose singular characters are so beautifully rendered, it’s as if they’re your best friends, and you’re grateful to be in their orbit.”Oprah Quarterly
 
Hello Beautiful will make you weep buckets because you come to care so deeply about the characters and their fates. . . . [Napolitano] compels us to contemplate the complex tapestry of family love that can, despite grief and loss, still knit us together. She helps us see ourselves—and each other—whole.”—The Washington Post
 
 “A sprawling, hugely affecting novel [filled with] empathetic characters and rich writing . . . [Hello Beautiful] has rightfully earned comparisons to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, with its four close, vibrant sisters and the lonely outsider who infiltrates their circle.”Shondaland

“This is a warm blanket of a book, one that reminds you of the enveloping power of literature and leaves you very grateful to have encountered it.”Vogue
 
Little Women fans will be endeared by Hello Beautiful's homage to the March siblings, in the form of the four Padavano sisters. Any lover of a sweeping family saga will be moved by the Padavanos’ unraveling.”Harper’s Bazaar

“Napolitano’s novel will make you think deeply about sisterhood and what we choose to share with those we love.”Town & Country
 
“Can love make a broken person whole? That is the simple but compelling question at the center of . . . this engrossing and emotional family drama.”E! Online
 
“Absorbing.”AARP
 
“Napolitano is a master of examining what binds us to family, what makes family, and how to love in difficult times.”Literary Hub

A family drama with echoes of classics and characters who are distinctly written. As a reader, you’ll laugh and grieve with William and the Padavanos as they go through life—soaring as much as they stumble.”Book Riot
 
“Ann Napolitano’s new novel, Hello Beautiful, is exactly that: beautiful, perceptive, wistful. It’s a story of family and friendship, of how the people we are bound to can also set us free. I loved it.”—Miranda Cowley Heller, New York Times bestselling author of The Paper Palace

“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

Hello Beautiful is a profoundly moving and propulsive novel about 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. This is a book to treasure and share with friends and loved ones.”—Angie Kim, bestselling author of Miracle Creek

Hello Beautiful is the work of a great author at the height of her powers. Equally immersive, emotional, and brilliantly crafted, this is an early contender for best novel of the year.”—J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest

“This is a story about family and sisters and storytelling, but it’s also an examination of identity and the consequences of doing love badly and how love can be redeemed. Read this book! You’ll be glad you did.”—Therese Anne Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of It All Comes Down to This

“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