‘BEAUTIFUL, PERCEPTIVE, WISTFUL’ Miranda Cowley Heller
‘ANN NAPOLITANO’S WRITING IS ASTONISHING’ Marian Keyes
‘RADIANT AND BRILLIANTLY CRAFTED’ New York Times

————————————

Best friends and sisters, the four Padavano girls bring loving chaos to their close-knit Italian American neighbourhood. 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, it’s as if the world has lit up around him.

With Julia comes her family: 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. But when darkness from William’s past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who becomes his closest confidante. The result is a catastrophic rift that leaves the family inhabiting two sides of a fault line.

Can they find their way back to each other? Can love make a broken family whole?

————————————

‘A luminously beautiful novel’ Observer
‘I very nearly missed my stop on the train. It was that good’ Elle
‘A novel of rare yet classic beauty’ i Paper
‘A moving, tender family epic’ Pandora Sykes

‘Beautiful, perceptive, wistful. 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, The Paper Palace

—-

Best friends and sisters, the four Padavano girls bring loving chaos to their close-knit Italian American neighbourhood. 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, it’s as if the world has lit up around him.

With Julia comes her family: 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. But when darkness from William’s past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who becomes his closest confidante. The result is a catastrophic rift that leaves the family inhabiting two sides of a fault line.

Can they find their way back to each other? Can love make a broken family whole?

—–

‘A gripping family drama . . . As addictive as last year’s The Paper Palace’ Grazia

‘Hello Beautiful will make you weep buckets because you come to care so deeply about the characters and their fates’ Washington Post

‘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. Napolitano’s homage to Little Women, set in late-20th century Chicago, will prompt you to slow down as you read, never wanting the book to end’ Oprah Quarterly