Edward was Eddie until it happened. He and his family were crossing the country by plane to start a new life in a brand new place because of his Mum’s work. What was supposed to be a new and exciting life for them, very quickly ended with the plane crashing and Eddie being the sole survivor.

It’s a plane full of broken people for various reasons ranging from feeling dejected because it’s been ages since they last had sex, to basically dying from Cancer. Each person’s little problem, which is massive to them, is swallowed by the tragedy that envelopes them all when the plane crashes. This book will put your life into perspective – if it doesn’t, well, I don’t know what will.

Dear Edward is a coming-of-age story because it traverses the very normal challenges that a child would face with a move to a new area, new school, new friendships and becoming a teenager. But at the same time Edward has the challenges of 191 lost people to contend with, three of them being his immediate family.

The goodreads blurb suggests that this book is perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Ann Patchett. The former I still haven’t read but I would say that Ann Napolitano’s style is not really similar to Ann Patchett’s. For me, this book was like reading something similar to a publication from Jodi Picoult. Why? Because actually, it’s 2019 – and aviation disasters are becoming all too familiar across the globe. So for me, this wasn’t just a magical story of hope and light – it was a very real prospect that many families have gone through the pain of.

Expected publication: January 14th 2020