I Hope This Finds You Well: A Novel

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Recommended by the New York Times Book Review, Today show, People, NPR, Elle, Good Housekeeping, Parade, Harper's Bazaar, and more!

"Hilarity ensues."— TAYLOR JENKINS REID • "Fans of The Office will delight." — SHELBY VAN PELT • "Wickedly funny." — PEOPLE • "I could not put it down." — JULIA QUINN • "A workplace sitcom transformed into a romantic comedy novel." — ELLE

In this wildly funny and heartwarming office comedy, an admin worker accidentally gains access to her colleagues’ private emails and DMs and decides to use this intel to save her job—a laugh-till-you-cry debut novel you’ll be eager to share with your entire list of contacts, perfect for fans of Anxious People and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

As far as Jolene is concerned, her interactions with her colleagues should start and end with her official duties as an admin for Supershops, Inc. Unfortunately, her irritating, incompetent coworkers don’t seem to understand the importance of boundaries. Her secret to survival? She vents her grievances in petty email postscripts, then changes the text color to white so no one can see. That is until one of her secret messages is exposed. Her punishment: sensitivity training (led by the suspiciously friendly HR guy, Cliff) and rigorous email restrictions.

When an IT mix-up grants her access to her entire department’s private emails and DMs, Jolene knows she should report it, but who could resist reading what their coworkers are really saying? And when she discovers layoffs are coming, she realizes this might just be the key to saving her job. The plan is simple: gain her boss’s favor, convince HR she’s Supershops material, and beat out the competition.

But as Jolene is drawn further into her coworkers' private worlds and realizes they are each keeping secrets, her carefully constructed walls begin to crumble—especially around Cliff, who she definitely cannot have feelings for. Eventually she will need to decide if she’s ready to leave the comfort of her cubicle, even if that means coming clean to her colleagues.

Crackling with laugh-out-loud dialogue and relatable observations, I Hope This Finds You Well is a fresh and surprisingly tender comedy about loneliness and love beyond our computer screens. This sparkling debut novel will open your heart to the everyday eccentricities of work culture and the undeniable human connection that comes along with it.

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Published May 21, 2024

Average rating: 6.76

455 RATINGS

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Readers say *I Hope This Finds You Well* blends sharp workplace comedy with heartfelt explorations of anxiety and mental health, creating a relatable ...

KelBel

Oct 04, 2025

3/10 stars

First of all this was billed as a laugh out loud comedy. Ummmm no I did giggle a little but most of all it was sort of depressing. It was more real life but not, I couldn't stop reading in a watching a train wreck sort of way. The love story aspect was cute I guess, and the work Jolene did on/for herself was good. But overall it was just sort blah..

Zoe E.

Mar 17, 2025

7/10 stars

I feel like this book is done a disservice by its ad copy. It's amusing in its depictions of the indignities of modern office culture, but it's far from a laugh riot. Instead our protagonist Jolene has social anxiety, unresolved grief and trauma, and suffers from alcoholism. She alternately lashes out and withdraws, and makes questionable decisions that can make it hard to root for her (though I did!). Then everything ties up super neatly at the end in a rom-com arc. I thought the writing was good and the romance was sweet and there were some serious themes raised, but ultimately the book isn't done favors by the smashing together of genres/tones.

makaylaxmyra

Oct 30, 2025

7/10 stars

Not bad at all just a tad cringey at times but that part of the aura of the book. Great character development and overall pretty solid

Margie Pettersen

Oct 27, 2025

10/10 stars

Jolene is an admin for Supershops and things in the office have gotten tense. There are rumors of layoffs and people feel threatened. She is a loner with issues and getting along with her colleagues is not something she is comfortable with. In fact, she cringes at the decorations and avoids all the social gatherings. She lets off a little steam by responding to emails with snarky postscripts which she changes to white font so no harm done, right? Except, one hurtful email goes out with the postscript intact and now Jolene is forced to go to harassment seminars with the new HP guy, Cliff. When the IT department comes to put controls on Jolene's computer, they also inadvertently give her complete access to everyone's emails. Oops! What happens over the course of the next few months is revelatory and life-changing for Jolene. I could not put this book down! The book is funny in parts, sad in others, and kept me up all night reading to find out what would happen next. This is a fabulous, must-read book that I will recommend to all my friends.

SherylStandifer

Oct 18, 2025

8/10 stars

Poor Joleen was such a mess. At first, it was hard to have sympathy for her. She wasn’t a good colleague and pretty much kept to herself. So she came across as weird to her pod-mates. She had no friends outside of work, save her meddlesome mother (and dad), and a 12 year-old pesky neighbor with her own issues. And she seemed beyond a borderline alcoholic, with her plans to spend time with a bottle or two after work - as she mostly wants to escape into a mindless oblivion. Turns out, there’s a deep-seated reason for that. Joleen’s depression has followed her into her early 30’s after the death of her best friend in girlhood, and she can’t help blaming herself. And at work, she encounters a competitor who leads the pack in bullying her. But a new HR guy, Cliff, whom she meets in a disciplinary probation meeting, turns out to be her strongest ally and truly sees Joleen for her value. Through an administrative error, not her own, Joleen gets an unwitting leg-up in navigating office politics, by suddenly seeing all ingoing and outgoing communications of her colleagues. But is it too much of a burden to bear when rumored layoffs are part of the mix? There were laugh-out-loud moments in this story, as Joleen’s victories, and her relationship with Cliff, began to brighten her drab outlook. But there’s a cautionary tale here as well, about having too much of a good thing and having it come back and bite you. Loved this book, and how it spurred new paths for many who emerged in a better situation, including love. Especially for Joleen, in loving herself, as well as others.