Dear Edward: A Novel

Front Cover
Random House Publishing Group, Jan 6, 2020 - Fiction - 352 pages
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • “Make sure you have tissues handy when you read [this] sure-footed tearjerker” (NPR) about a young boy who must learn to go on after surviving tragedy, from the author of the Oprah’s Book Club pick Hello Beautiful.

Now streaming as an Apple TV+ series starring Connie Britton, written and executive produced by Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights and Parenthood)

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Parade, LibraryReads

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 is that rare book that breaks your heart and stitches it back together during a reading experience that leaves you profoundly altered for the better.”—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Mad Honey
 
“Will lead you toward something wonderous, something profound.”—Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Now Is Not the Time to Panic
 

Selected pages

Contents

Section 1
36
Section 2
49
Section 3
62
Section 4
72
Section 5
91
Section 6
100
Section 7
121
Section 8
129
Section 17
250
Section 18
253
Section 19
267
Section 20
270
Section 21
284
Section 22
286
Section 23
294
Section 24
297

Section 9
151
Section 10
163
Section 11
179
Section 12
190
Section 13
209
Section 14
218
Section 15
230
Section 16
236
Section 25
303
Section 26
306
Section 27
313
Section 28
316
Section 29
318
Section 30
329
Section 31
339
Copyright

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About the author (2020)

Ann Napolitano is the author of Dear Edward, which was an instant New York Times bestseller, a Read with Jenna selection, and is now an Apple TV+ series. She is also the author of the novels A Good Hard Look and Within Arm’s Reach. For seven years, Napolitano was the associate editor of the literary magazine One Story, and she received an MFA from New York University. She has taught fiction writing at Brooklyn College’s MFA program, New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and Gotham Writers Workshop.

Bibliographic information