Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this eARC.

I absolutely love years when we are blessed with a new Jodi Picoult novel. She knows how to craft a story.

This book follows Dawn as she lives through two futures after she experiences a life-changing event. In one timeline she returns to her life in Boston with her family and job working as a death doula. In the other she travels to Egypt and returns to her first love and her past life as an student studying The Book of Two Ways.

Dawn is forced to face choices she’s made over the course of her life and whether she made the correct one.

Like all Picoult novels, this one was completely engaging. I loved the two timelines and seeing how each Dawn faced her life.

I will say, the storyline in Egypt was a bit dense. It was very detailed. It took me longer to get through those chapters.

Overall, this was a super thought provoking novel. I would definitely recommend.

There were many different parts of this book, and that is like life. One aspect that nearly gave me a pause was the focus on death, it isn’t an easy subject and at times one I’d like to avoid. Yet it is inevitable and the characters take you with them on their journey.

The main character is Dawn Edelstein, who faces her husband’s possible infidelity while also facing up to her own passionate past, along with a profession she left behind in Egyptology. When her plane crashes, escaping her own death as one of the few survivors Dawn’s life is changed. Even though Dawn is a death doula, being that close to her own mortality, made her examine past choices, as anyone might.

The story is woven well; shifting from Egypt to Boston in each section, along with reminiscing of the past and current work being done. Add in the alternate universe theories of Dawn’s husband who is a scientist, and yeah, there is a lot in the book.

Despite being content heavy I felt that enhanced the book. I enjoyed learning about Egyptology alongside reading about relationships and questioning one’s truth.

For me this is the best book by Picoult yet. I look forward to her next project.

This book was super good. It was super original and I flew through it. It didn't feel like anything I've read in the past. Can't wait to read more from the author!!

Who knew I needed to know so much about ancient Egyptians culture? But now that I do, I am so much better for it. An odd premise, The Book of Two Ways, but it worked for me. What if you get a second chance to live the life that maybe you were meant to have loved? How much is fate and how much is chance? Do our choices even matter? A thought provoking book that makes you ponder where you are in life.

As with most of Picoult’s works, this is well researched and well written.

There is a lot of technical language and ideas here both in on the topics of Egyptology as well as physics. And then there is idea of a book of two ways, parallel lives, lost and found love, reclaimed choices in life, and, finally, death. I did find myself skimming over some of the more erudite yet savoring the storyline.

I almost wish that this very ambitious book had been two (or even three) different ones so that I could better digest all that there was to ponder. Yet, Picoult was able to pull it all together in the end.

While I enjoyed The Book of Two Ways, I was sorry that Dawn’s role as a death doula did not inspire its own separate novel. While it was integrated with the story as a whole, I thought the preparation for and musings about death would have in of of themselves been an excellent focus for a novel. A lot was said regarding the end of life, but I felt that it sometimes got lost with everything else going on in the story.

3.5 Oh my, The Book of Two Ways has an overwhelming amount of Egyptian history and if you can get through that, I suggest you read on. This book was very different for Picoult. I enjoyed learning about the art of being a death dhula. Besides the Egyptian history lesson relating to her archeological dig, this book also has you thinking about second chances, what makes you happy and the afterlife. Links to follow.

Okay I normally love Jodi Picoult's books but this one gets a 3 stars from me. It was just too much Egyptian pyramid & stuff knowledge. If she had just took out most of that stuff it would have been 5 stars no doubt. All the educational stuff just mind boggled you & took away from the story in my opinion.

I really couldn't deal with this one. I stopped at the 30% mark. Honestly, this felt more like a history book than a book about a woman trying to imagine how her life would have turned out had she made a different decision. There was just so much about Egyptian history and culture and then there was also some quantum physics and multiverse stuff -- it was information overload.

3.5 stars Much of the first half of this book is extremely detailed about Egyptology, quantum physics, and Dawn's current work as a death doula. After a prologue focused on the "planned emergency" plane crash, chapters alternate between Egypt and Boston. Dawn has a lot of struggles - with her husband and teen daughter, her job and dying patients, and trying to figure out what she wants. I definitely enjoyed the second half of the book more, but I struggled with how to feel about Dawn, and I thought some of the reactions or the male characters were not necessarily realistic. The book does not have a tidy ending, so the reader is left to decide what she thinks happens.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dense with Egyptology, quantum physics, and a dash of neuroscience. Parallel lives are explored when Death Doula Dawn weighs her current life and love against her past and unfinished business in Egypt. The characters aren't as developed as in some of Picoult's other novels. A bit too much on the Egyptology but has a strong finish.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley

In every life there are points of Before and After. If you could travel to your Before and change your After... Would you?

We meet Dawn on a plane, right as the plane is having a "planned emergency". As Dawn hurtles to what she realizes may be the end of her life, all that crosses her mind is the man she left 15 years ago: Wyatt Armstrong.

What happens next is a journey on two sides of the same coin. We follow Dawn to Egypt as she tries to reclaim herself and her life as it would have been, but we also follow Dawn back home to her shaky relationship with her husband Brian and her daughter Meret. This book is a tale of alternate realities and whether or not love is a feeling or a choice.

Jodi Picoult's newest book is truly unlike her other work, but captivating all the same. I am impressed with how detailed and well researched this book was in regards to egyptology, death doulas, even art. I loved that each character was so well studied in their field. I also really enjoyed the storyline, I was invested in each character. I felt so heartbroken and empathetic for them all. I'm thankful to have been given the opportunity to read this one. Special thanks to the author, NetGalley, Random House and Ballantine Books for the ARC.

I am a fan of Jodi Picoult. Getting to read this as an ACR was almost like breaking the law so thank you for the opportunity! One of my favorite things about her writing is the information given about topics I know very little about. I also enjoy researching as I'm reading. With that being said, the topics in this book were dry and boring for me. I can't wrap my head around alternate universes and Egyptian mummy history is pretty boring. Im sure it is a fascinating topic when you are digging for buried treasure as Wyatt and Dawn were but reading about it was torture. A complete snooze fest if you will.
There were many clues to make the ending predictable. There were no surprises at the end. Maybe that is because death shouldn't be a surprise to anyone? Im not sure if that was intentional or not.
I loved the story and its themes and lessons to be had here. Live your life for you, don't try to make everyone else happy. Embrace and appreciate death. Be open minded to change because life happens. The way Brian was accepting of the outcomes were wonderful. I wish all adults could think that way.
I felt as though I was traveling alongside her, living with her. I could feel the dust on her khakis, Win's hand as she held it. I love that Dawn used her experiences from both college and life to help others. I learned a lot about death and I feel everyone should read this book to help us all cope with the topic if dying.
I did not enjoy the ending as I hate choosing my own ending. I needed to know who she chose and what life was like for Meret. Did she grow up to be a scientist or a historian? Life never goes as we predict it in our heads.

Jodi Picoult has outdid herself with a fabulous new story that delves deeply into both human emotions and the effects of the decisions we make. It is very evident that Picoult has completed extensive research into ancient Egyptian history and excavation techniques. I found it to be a very moving story about family, friendship, and first love. The timeline switched between Dawn's time in Boston with her current husband Brian and daughter Meret and to Egypt with a man she fell in love with 15 years ago when she was in graduate school studying Egyptology - Wyatt Armstrong. The narrative is seamless, even with the transitions between places and timelines. The writing is beautiful and rich, transporting readers to Egypt in the tombs, looking at the hieroglyphs right alongside Dawn and Wyatt. I highly recommend this book!

When she was in her mid-twenties, Dawn McDowell was a Ph.D. candidate in the Yale Egyptology program, headed by Professor Dumphries, who led the department's dig at Deir el-Bersha. Dawn and fellow graduate student, Wyatt Armstrong - a handsome, golden-haired Bri - rubbed each other the wrong way from day one, each vying to be the best and the brightest, and competing to be Dumphries' favorite.

Dawn and Wyatt sniped at each other constantly until the day they discovered a depinto - an inscription in hieroglyphics - beneath a rock ledge. The depinto revealed the existence of a previously unknown tomb, and in their excitement - when Wyatt wrapped his arms around Dawn and spun her around - the two became friends....and then fell madly in love.

Dawn and Wyatt's area of study was 'The Book of Two Ways', an inscription in Egyptian tombs that depicts two paths to the afterlife, an upper water path and a lower land path. The deceased travels down one of the pathways, meeting guardians and watchers who prevent unworthy sinners from passing.

Dawn and Wyatt, who seemed to be made for each other, made an excellent romantic AND research team. They pictured themselves together, leading digs; unearthing tombs; interpreting hieroglyphics; publishing articles; etc.

Then the unthinkable happened. Dawn learned her mother was in a hospice, dying of ovarian cancer. Dawn rushed home to Boston to care for her mother, who died a few weeks later. This made Dawn guardian of her 13-year-old brother Kieran, a responsibility Dawn took very seriously.

Thus, Dawn withdrew from the Egyptology program; met physicist Brian Edelstein; got pregnant; got married; became a death doula (a person who helps the dying at the end of their lives); and didn't say a word about any of it to Wyatt.

*****

We first meet Dawn fifteen years later, when her life is much different than what she pictured in Egypt. Dawn is married to physicist Brian Edelstein, a caring solicitous spouse who teaches at Harvard; Dawn and Brian are raising their 14-year-old daughter Meret, a science whiz who attends summer STEM camp; and Dawn is helping her client Win, a dying artist, peacefully approach her last moments.

Dawn's life takes a dramatic turn when Brian gets too cozy with an attractive graduate student and Win tells Dawn about her lost first love, whom she never forgot. Dawn feels compelled to go back to Egypt, find Wyatt, and continue studying the Book of Two Ways.

As Dawn navigates her life she's torn between Wyatt and her Egyptology studies on the one hand (the land path), and Brian and Meret on the other hand (the water path). That's the basic theme of the book.

The story moves back and forth in time, alternating between events fifteen years ago and events in the present. Some of the time jumps are purposely tricky. leading to twists I didn't see coming.

A Jodi Picoult novel is never simple, and the book includes a good bit of chitchat about ancient Egypt, physics, the responsibilities of a death doula, and Irish superstitions.

The ancient Egypt sections include discussions of Egyptian gods; beliefs; tombs; inscriptions; hieroglyphics; pharaohs; kings; queens; brothers; sisters; incest (which was common); marriages; burial rites; the afterlife; etc. It's like a mini-textbook about ancient Egypt.

The physics sections are about quantum mechanics and multiverses - the idea that there are infinite universes with parallel timelines. Thus I might be a physics professor giving a lecture in one timeline; a cab driver in a car crash in a second timeline; a ballerina rehearsing with the Bolshoi in a third timeline, married to my first boyfriend in a fourth timeline....you get the idea.

The duties of a death doula are exemplified by Dawn's recollections of former clients and her day-to-day care of Win. Death doula responsibilities can include helping the client declutter the house; make a will; plan a funeral; visit favorite places; write letters; comfort relatives; and so on. Whatever the client wants that's not medical-related.

The Irish superstitions are among the more light-hearted parts of the book. Dawn's mother was a VERY superstitious Irishwoman with a strong belief in the supernatural. She put safety pins in Dawn's clothing to ward off the evil eye; taught Dawn never to whistle indoors; instructed Dawn to look in a mirror if she left the house and had to come back in; made Dawn pay a penny after she gave her a Swiss Army Knife for Christmas; told Dawn she'd never get married if she sat in the corner at the table; and so on. These rituals are meant to insure good luck and prevent harm, and Dawn brings them up - usually in fun - as the occasion arises.

I found the 'extra bits' of the novel interesting, but some reviewers think the Egyptology and physics chatter is excessive and boring.

I enjoyed the book and was engrossed in Dawn's dilemma.....whether to choose Wyatt or Brian. You might be tempted to get judgy, but read the book first. 😊

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Jodi Picoult), and the publisher (Ballantine Books) for a copy of the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was SO excited to get a chance to read this book early. The concept of the book sounded really good, I love the idea of second chances, especially in the times we are living in now.

But this book ultimately fell flat for me. I was confused at first with the duaI timelines because they weren't established very well, and at points, I wasn't sure which timeline I was in or what was happening.

This book I feel like could in part pass for a textbook, there were numerous times I had to close out the book to verify that I didn't somehow accidentally get switched to a textbook. I understand and appreciate some of the Egypt background, but it got overwhelming sometimes with the amount of info that was given, Some of it definitely helps establish the story and explain things overall, but it was quite dense in other spots.

I absolutely loved the idea of a death doula, and I was so intrigued by this. I found myself most interested in the timeline of Dawn in her job as a doula. There is just something so beautiful about someone who can perform this role. I loved seeing her build relationships with these individuals at the end of her life.

I also really don't like an inconclusive ending where the reader is left to interrupt it how they wish either.

All in all, I really liked the attempt for what this book was doing, I just don't think this will go on my list of favorites for Jodi. I am really curious and excited to see what others think of this book when it is released. I really hope that others will find a love for this book.

Whew. It took me a while to read this story & I’m sad the journey has ended. Jodi Picoult is one of my go-to favorites which is what kept me loyal to finish. I was so excited to receive this ARC from NetGalley. I went into this book blindly- My pick based purely on Picoult. This topic is not my ordinary cup of tea but it really grew on me.

First off I can NOT imagine the lengths she went to- to research so much about Egypt. She had to have gone above and beyond to not only acquire as much information as she did but be able to understand it enough to flawlessly weave it into this book. This story follows Dawn in her present and past and explores why those two paths will always connect. She began as an Egyptologist in Egypt but life brought her to motherhood and a more grounded career. Even so, her career tied her to her love for the lifestyle of Egyptians.

This was almost a beautiful way to read about Egyptian history- which I will admit sometimes made it “work” to read. I know next to nothing about ancient tombs, hieroglyphics, etc. Picoult did a wonderful job explaining each story and how it connected to the characters.

I loved the way the story unfolded and the idealism that we all may be on a different path of one decision had been different. This book forces you to think about your life, who makes up your past, how you feel in your future and what death looks like to you.

This was not necessarily an easy read but one I’ll be thinking about for a long time. I loved learning about Egypt in this way. I loved being forced to think about heavy choices I’ve made in my own life. I think this could be a great read for a college curriculum too!

I have so many thoughts about The Book of Two Ways and nearly all of them are positive. Special thanks to the author, NetGalley, Random House and Ballantine Books for putting this book into my life. I wouldn't classify this as an easy read, but don't read too much into that. This book makes you think, makes you learn, makes you feel. I needed to be present the entire time while reading so I didn't miss any details. This was an all too real tale of a woman experiencing two worlds, two different outcomes and questioning the trajectory of her life. I thought the research done towards Egyptology was amazing - I learned so much. Also, the part about interference patterns was introduced in a way that was so much easier to understand that how I learned and have been teaching that topic. I have a PhD in chemistry and felt like Jodi could have presented my dissertation much better than I did.

I've read some reviews for this book and many people are saying that it's unlike anything that Jodi Picoult has written before. This was my first book of hers but if this is true, congratulations to Jodi for expanding your knowledge, willingness to take on something new and taking your craft with you.

Picolt brings human, infallible characters to light in this romance that grapples with mid-life crisis born from a near death experience that takes Dawn Edelstein accross the world to seek her former self and former love.

Thanks to Jodi Pcioult, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you netgalley for an advanced copy of THE BOOK OF TWO WAYS.. The premise of this books regarded parallel worlds and showed how the decisions you make affect the outcome of your life. I was a very interesting concept and I did enjoy the story. I did however find some parts confusing, ad I felt there was too much Egyptian history, though. it explained some of the concepts regarding parallel worlds, I think a bit of it was unnecessary. I also felt it wasn't as thought provoking as other Jodi Picoult novels. Overall, I found this story interesting and the characters likeable (hubby could be annoying). and a couple of unexpected twists.

As a fan of Egyptian history, I adored The Book of Two Ways! Picoult has clearly done her research (and loves it!) and it shows. I loved the idea of the story, loved all the Egyptian history, but didn't connect to the characters as much as I would have liked. Having said that, it's Jodi Picoult, who I've been reading since Keeping Faith and I think she still writes some of the most well rounded mcs out there. Her last few books have been about huge ideas--racism, abortion, and with The Book of Two Ways, an examination of how and why we live our lives--and I admire her so much for taking on these huge, tangled topics and humanizing them. It's amazing, and even though I am not 100% sold on the solidness of the characterization, I am 200% sold on the ideas behind this book and how it will introduce so many readers to the depth of Egyptian history. Absolutely recommended.