Wish You Were Here: A Novel

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the author of Small Great Things and The Book of Two Ways comes "a powerfully evocative story of resilience and the triumph of the human spirit" (Taylor Jenkins Reid, author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six)

Look for Jodi Picoult's new novel, By Any Other Name, available now!

Rights sold to Netflix for adaptation as a feature film - One of She Reads' Best Books of the Year

Diana O'Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She's an associate specialist at Sotheby's now, but her boss has hinted at a promotion if she can close a deal with a high-profile client. She's not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos--days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.

But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It's all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes.

Almost immediately, Diana's dream vacation goes awry. Her luggage is lost, the Wi-Fi is nearly nonexistent, and the hotel they'd booked is shut down due to the pandemic. In fact, the whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to Diana, despite her father's suspicion of outsiders.

In the Galápagos Islands, where Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection was formed, Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself--and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different.

This edition contains a short story, discussion questions, and an excerpt from Jodi Picoult's next novel.

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400 pages

Average rating: 7.26

629 RATINGS

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33 REVIEWS

Community Reviews

Shelly44
Oct 21, 2024
1/10 star
The author is obviously trying to capitalize and make money off Covid. Information presented in the book was incorrect and based on tabloid sensationalism. The plot itself was shallow. Don't waste your money.
lucybelle27
Sep 05, 2024
The twist in this book was absolutely amazing. Jodi Picoult truly submerges you in the location of the book and I feel like I always learn something new each book that she writes.
NAMsMommy
Jun 10, 2024
10/10 stars
This was just an incredible story, a vacation gone awry in the time of COVID's outbreak. I don't want to give anything away, so I'm just going to leave it at that.
VelarisBookworm
Jun 01, 2024
1/10 star
DnF this 3 chapters in
Ali Nurmikko
May 14, 2024
3/10 stars
A book to read, but wouldn’t recommend. It was a very niche Covid book that won’t stand the test of time with all of its uber specific content-simply because of my age and experience of 2020, the references were fresh for me, but would not be relatable to those significantly older or younger than me. Anyways, the story itself had a big “oh wow” moment that I wasn’t expecting; however, the remainder of the story after that did not uphold. There was so much unnecessary details and ramblings of things that it was honestly confusing and really boring to read at parts…maybe I’m just not a fan of this author, but was not a good showing of my first read of hers.

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