Anne had a breakthrough hit a few years ago with ‘Dear Edward’ that is now an Apple TV+ series. I adored that book and was excited to read her follow up, ‘Hello Beautiful.’
I am pleased to say that I love it even more than ‘Dear Edward’.
Our main character is William, he is severely neglected by apathetic parents dealing with unimaginable grief uniquely described in the first few sentences of the book.
For the first six days of William Waters’ life he was not an only child, he had a three year old sister, a redhead named Caroline. There were silent home movies of Caroline in which William’s father looked like he was laughing. A sight William never saw again.
William discovers Basketball and practiced relentlessly as a balm to his loneliness, which was an auspicious choice because he grew to six feet, seven inches tall in high school.
William receives a Basketball scholarship to attend Northwestern where he meets and falls in love with Julia the oldest of four sisters.
Julia a smart and tenacious young woman loves William’s quiet steadiness, they were the embodiment of opposites attract. With Julia comes her warm and loud family, she is inseparable from her three younger sisters who we get to know and love throughout the novel and her father is one of my favorite characters, who always greets his girls with the loving "hello beautiful."
Each chapter in this 383 page family drama spans a short length of time which adds up to over 30 years of love and pain. Chock-full of betrayal; forbidden love, sisterly bonds, sports psychology, and so much more.
I would recommend this book to lovers of character driven fiction, family drama, and ‘Little Women’.
‘Hello, Beautiful’ is actually a homage to ‘Little Women’ with the loving and varied personalities of the four sisters, but certainly not a direct retelling.
I love a redemptive story and the last page of this novel left me breathless. Napolitano’s tone feels like a warm blanket that left a haunting ache in my heart. Oprah loved this book so much that she chose it has her 100th book club pick.
Anne Napolitano lives in New York City and has attended and taught in MFA programs there. She will be speaking at the Dallas Museum of Art on June 6th. I hope you pick up a copy and enjoy it as much as I did.
Until the next episode of Likely Stories, I wish you a pile of good books and a cozy reading spot.
