A heartwarming and life affirming read - one I could not put down.

Edward survives a plane crash which kills his family and the other 183 passengers on board. He has to find a way to live his life in the light of this event. He starts by isolating himself but gradually he comes to realise that he must come to terms with his loss. He does so through the letters written to him which bring to life those lost and allow him to contemplate his future and find a place for himself.

A lovely read showing how a heart can learn to love again.

I liked the original angle of this story. Not only does the book hypothesize the impact of a tragedy, like an airplane crash, on the families but what if one of the passengers survived? What would be the impact and implications? Edward was traveling to LA with his family when the plane went down. Miraculously he was the sole survivor. The story switches back and forward between the present where Edward is struggling to come to terms with his new reality, and the past which gives insight into a few of the passengers on the flight.
I found the book a bit slow but it picked up towards the second half when we start to get flashes as to why the plane crashed. I also enjoyed the thoughtful analysis of how something like this would effect not just Edward, but all the people around him. This book is about a tragedy, no doubt, but its also about hope and support. A solid read.

This story is about Eddie a twelve-year-old boy who is the only survivor when a passenger aircraft plummets to the ground. It is a miracle that he survived and his physical injuries will take a long time to heal but will the mental scars ever heal? The story is well written, it is obviously very sad but I did smile in places at Edwards quirky solutions on how to get through each day There's his life before the crash and then after, before he was Eddie after he is Edward, a totally different boy. He goes to live with his mother's sister and her husband who welcome him but are not quite sure how to deal with him. He misses his older brother the most but he does find a friend and ally in the girl next door, their relationship almost becomes an obsession. I really enjoyed this book and have no hesitation in giving it 5*.

Dear Edward by Anna Napolitano a five-star read you can’t miss. This is a deeply moving story and one that will surprise you, Edward’s story will keep you reading and will really keep you reading, some of the other characters stories weren’t so compelling, but that could easily be as we get to see so much more of Edwards story, so it’s easier to understand his character, or could be that we know the other passengers don’t make it, I don’t know which. As you watch Edward grow it takes this story from sad about the crash to affirming and bright.

‘Dear Edward’ follows the story of a plane crash in which 12 year old Eddie is the sole survivor. The story is told across two time periods; during the flight and life after the crash.

I really wanted to like this book, I thought I would love it but unfortunately that was not the case. The story had the potential to be a deeply emotional read but I found the writing to be detached and choppy. I had zero connection to any of the characters on the plane, despite reading a lot about their lives. I preferred reading about Edwards life after the crash and his struggle with survivors guilt but even this didn’t make me enjoy it. It was boring and very hard to stick with, it took a lot of effort on my behalf to stick it out until the end.

Dear Edward is a heart-wrenching tale of Edward who is the only survivor of a plane crash which kills his mother, father and older brother. He is taken in by his aunt and the story is about him growing up. There are some great characters, beautifully written. Edward is a boy who has grown up with love and this shapes his recovery after the crash. His neighbour Shay quickly becomes his friend and fills some of the hole left by the death of his brother. In turn she needs Edward's friendship almost as much as he needs hers. His aunt and uncle do their very best to care for Edward and have his best interests at heart even while they are dealing with their own grief. So the story focuses primarily on the after effects of this tragedy - Edward is well looked after with good support. It is unbearably sad at time - I cried more than once reading it. It has a good ending which shows hope for Edward's future. The book has stayed with me and I think about it even now, about a month after finishing it, The one part that I think about most often is when John, his uncle, and Edward are talking and John discloses that they worried greatly that Edward would take his own life. Edward replies that he would never do that because he knows how hard it is to be left behind.

Please read this book, I can't recommend it more highly.

An utter joy to read! Beautifully written and alternating between the present and the events leading up to the plane crash and the stories of the passengers, this was a story of grief, loss, family, friendship and love. Edward is a wonderful character and his relationship with the girl next door was very sweet and believable. The power of friendship and acceptance shine throughout. Really moving in lots of ways, I shed a few tears whilst reading and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

A story that stays with you, as it’s all too easy to picture yourself as a fellow passenger on this doomed flight.
Eddie survives the crash which takes the lives of his parents, his brother who he idolises, and everyone else aboard- and is transformed into Edward by his continued but now alien existence. A different life. One in which others feel they have a stake- particularly those who lost loved ones on the flight. They reinvest their lost hopes into his future and write him letters making requests- some achievable, most not; certainly not in combination. Luckily the letters are intercepted and hidden, unread, by his guardians and it is several years before he finds them, and is spurred to action by their contents.

Edward had sparked jealousy from classmates who felt he had been given concessions in school in attendance, behaviour, university entry. They had envied his financial security after compensation payouts. Ultimately, he finds a way to share his fortune anonymously.

Mixed feelings about this book. It’s an easy read and competently told. It tugs at your emotions. Some engaging characters and I did like Edward and Shay. I didn’t enjoy the ‘first class’ characters travelling with Jane, who were more stereotypical and lacking in interest to me. Overall, a decent read but not a stand out for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely beautiful and touching, brilliant writing. I was so happy to read the ARC of this, and was mesmerised all the way through. Cannot recommend more highly. One for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Edward (Eddie), his brother Jordan and parents Bruce and Jane board flight 2977 to Los Angeles, as they are moving from New York to relocate for Jane’s job. A new and exciting life for all of them.

After the plane crash, Eddie discovers he is the sole survivor, 191 people including his family. His Aunt and Uncle take him in where he has to learn to live without his family and recover from his injuries.

The story goes back to the flight where we are introduced to some of the other people on the plane and get to know their back stories.

This is such a beautifully written emotional book that will tug at your heart strings and made me tear up at times. Although this is a sad story it is also about survival and hope.

Loved Eddie’s close friendship with neighbour Shay, with her help can he overcome the guilt of being the sole survivor and start a new life.

This book will stay in my thoughts for a long time to come.

A new author for me and I will definitely be looking out for her other books.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review. The

This book was absolutely beautiful. Following the story of Edward, the sole survivor of an air crash that killed his parents and brother, he went to live with his Aunt and Uncle. Edward's recovery and the growth throughout the book is incredibly touching. Definitely one to recommend to your friends.

This book was incredible. I could not put it down. I loved the way it jumped between the past and present and how slowly, little bits of detail were introduced. I genuinely liked the characters and found myself thinking about them after I had finished reading. I will be looking out for more by this author. Just go and read it!

I'm becoming a fan of Ann Napolitano. I'm currently reading her newest release, Dear Edward. Edward is 12 years old when he is involved in a plane crash, and is the only person to survive. He struggles to find a way to live, after having lost everything, including his brother, mother and father. The narrative of his present life is intercut with the hours of the flight, the people whose last hours he shared, who will stay with him for ever.

It's a bold concept, full of the strangeness of life, loss and death, an ingenious way to examine this eternally puzzling frontier and how we behave when faced with it. There are unexpected consequences that are so emotionally true - for instance, when Edward goes to a new school, his classmates are curious about him, and also suspicious that he is getting lenient treatment. Napolitano makes it believable, down to earth, yet also poetic - I'm enjoying it greatly. Dear Edward publishes in January, but you can order it and find out more about Ann here. .

I'm so glad to have been given the opportunity to read this book. It's not necessarily one which I would normally have chosen because I shy away from other people's sadness - but this book, in the telling of Edward's journey from the tragedy of being the only survivor of a plane crash, made me see that the human spirit is strong.
The message is: Not to waste any time. Not to waste any love.
Thank you, NetGalley.

Oh my word. I could not put this book down. I loved it! It was so emotional! I liked the way it switched between the now and the build up to the plane crash. I think it was done really well. I cannot wait to have this as a book club read.

When twelve year old Edward and his family board a plane from Newark to Los Angeles, none of them could imagine the terrible fate that awaits them - a plane crash that will kill everyone on board, except for the titular Edward. Sent to live with his aunt and uncle, Edward must learn to manage his newfound celebrity to manage his newfound celebrity while recovering both physically and mentally from the trauma of the crash. Aided in his recovery by his relatives and by his new friendship with a girl named Shay, Edward will make some surprising discoveries - one of which may just be how not to just survive but how to truly live.

I had expected because of the title that Edward would be the main character - and he is, but we also get the stories of all the other characters on the plane, too: a septuagenarian billionaire, an unmarried woman who may or not be pregnant, a wounded veteran etc, which I really enjoyed as it gave other perspectives on the crash and also made you realise the true extent of the accident - they weren't just faceless people who died, they were people that you, the reader, had spent time with, and so there was a real sense of loss .

The only (mild) criticism that I have of the book is that which applies to a lot of other books featuring intense teenage friendships, which is that the friendship between Edward and Shay was very idealised. But that aside, I really enjoyed the novel and will definitely be looking out for more from this author. 4.5 stars from me.

NOTE: I was provided with a free ARC copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. It's a moving, beautifully written read, looking at grief, loss and trauma. Funnily enough, I never would have picked up this book based on the title or cover. It looks like a commercial romance so I'm really grateful to Netgalley for highlighting it otherwise I would have missed it. Highly recommend.

I was engrossed from beginning to end.
Dear Edward is a story of the lone survivor of a plane crash which takes the lives of his parents and elder brother. Struggling to deal with his loss, to fit in living with his barren aunt and her husband, and the attention from the general public, Edward befriends the girl next door, and spends his nights sleeping on her floor. He lives in his dead brother’s clothes, constantly comparing himself to his more outgoing sibling. When he and his friend discover some bags in his uncles garage full of letters from others who lost family in the crash he decides to contact everyone who wrote,
The book alternates between before the crash where we meet some of the other passengers, and the aftermath where Edward tries to find his new place in the world.
Not the kind of book I would normally read, but would thoroughly recommend.

This was the first book I'd read from Ann Napolitano and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved how the book was divided between present day and flashbacks on the plane. It seems such a simple premise for a book, the sole survivor of a plane crash, yet the exquisiteness of Napolitano's writing made it profoundly beautiful..
My favorite aspects of the book were hearing about the Adler's family dynamics, especially the relationship between Eddie and Jordan, and reading about how through Eddie the families of those who died felt they had a connection to their loved ones. I also loved the way we learned so much about the other people on the plane.
The expectation placed on Eddie as the sole survivor was immense and reading about his struggle to come to terms with his survivor guilt was heartbreaking. I will definitely recommend this book!
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an early release of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Yeesh… I might declare to be the wrong gender for this book, but that always sounds so disparaging so I'll just let it float away. All memories of this will float away, anyway, for it just came, plodded on for an entire day, and went. There's no hiding the plot, of an Airbus plane crash that leaves the child previously known as Eddie the sole survivor. The narrative insists on shifting from the day of the crash, to the life he has after, but all to very little effect. The airborne half is just a modern variant on the disaster story, from someone perhaps like Arthur Hailey, with the way he would interweave many diverse people until we cared enough about them that he could put them at great jeopardy's door. (That bit about caring for them doesn't happen here). The alternating sections are equally dreary, and little of it ever comes to life. I sat wondering how many months you'd have to spend wading through Mitch Albom's 'rejected ideas' pile before you came to anything less life-affirming than this, and nothing of his would ever be this annoyingly "truth universally acknowledged" declamatory, or just "said said said" – nor so eminently skippable, and that's not only the fault of so much of it being about dead characters. And finally, as for the puff-quote provider who said it made her laugh – where the heck do you get your drugs?