Diana O’Toole a specialist in art sells and her boyfriend Finn who is a surgeon at New York Presbyterian hospital have planned a vacation to the Galápagos Islands. Diana decides to travel there without Finn because of a new illness Covid-19 that has created an influx of patients at his hospital. Unknown to the both of them that the entire world would change in a matter of days.

This novel was very thought provoking and at times rattled me to my core. It brought out emotions of my own experience surrounding the pandemic the past couple years and personal experience of recovery of a life threatening illness. The development of characters and the possible reality of their experiences made me completely invested. Well done Jodi Picoult! Get out there and get your copy!

Thank you Netgalley Ballantine Book and Jody Picoult for this fabulous novel to devour!

I did not know what to expect from this book, but it didn’t take long to find out!

Diana and Finn have their whole lives planned out: move up in their jobs -- Diana who is employed at Sotheby’s, Finn working to become a surgeon in a hospital in Manhattan; get married by 30; be finished having two children by 35; travel around the world, visiting as many UNESCO World Heritage sites as possible. “The Plan” is right on schedule. They have tickets and travel arrangements, for which they have saved for four years, to the Galapagos Islands -- non-refundable.

But on March 13, 2020, two days before they are set to leave on their two-week dream vacation, Finn decides that this is not a good time to leave the hospital. There are 19 cases of the Covid virus and his boss predicts more, saying this is not the time to leave. Finn encourages Diana to go by herself, since everything is paid for. And anyway, by the end of two weeks things will surely look much better…..

Diana hates to go alone, but decides to make the trip on her own, but from the beginning things do not go well for her. Her luggage is lost; she doesn’t speak the language (Finn was supposed to be there to speak for her!); as soon as she gets off the ferry to the small island where she has a hotel reservation, the whole island shuts down -- including her hotel!; and there is little or no internet connection, so she can’t even contact Finn to tell him she arrived safely! Well, she can surely make it through two weeks, when the island will open up again and she can return home…..

Yes, that is just the set-up to a very interesting story that begins with the main character being quarantined in a beautiful paradise. It really can’t be so bad.
You. Need. To. Keep. Reading!!!

There is a lot more to this story. I found that the author did such a good job of keeping my attention. And she added so many things that I didn’t expect. I couldn’t put it down. But I don’t want to say any more!

I enjoyed this a lot and hope others will too.

I'd like to thank NetGalley, Jodi Picoult, and Random House Publishing Group, and Ballantine Books for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

Keeps you thinking long after the last page! A story of the early pandemic that brought back so many memories of going through it myself. A little raw, and maybe a bit too soon, but I am so glad the book was written and so glad I read it!

One of the things you can depend on is that this author will always deeply research her subject. As a former nurse, I was impressed how well she represented the internal fear, burnout, isolation and chaotic nature of this nightmarish infection. Beautifully captured and plotted, it was a fast read and easy to devour. I had told myself I didn't want to read another book about Covid, but this one is different. It is one that explores not just the experience but the universal truth of how a calamity and life changing experience can make one reflect on one's life decisions.
The story begins March 2020 in NYC after Broadway shuts down when Covid raises its curdling head. Diane is an art specialist who works for Sotheby's and has an arrangement to possibly auction off a famous piece of art. This sale would hopefully elevate her to a higher position in the company. Meanwhile her boyfriend is a surgeon at a local hospital who is called in because the hospital is inundated with patients and needs every available medical practitioner. Both of them have their life planned out . They know exactly what they want for many years of their life. When this epidemic occurred though, their plans for travel to the Galapagos fell through and only Diane was only able to depart. She had hoped that he was going to propose to her on the island. However, she became stranded on the island because of travel restrictions that we only know only to0 well.On the island she became involved with the people in a deep and introspective way. This is where the novel takes a completely unexpected turn that led me to gasp out loud. The rest of the story is for you to discover. It pulled me into its world but stole two nights of being with my husband

Wish You Were Here is a deeply moving novel with immeasurable depth about resilience, and the strength of the human spirit through crisis. Jodi Picoult tackles the COVID-19 pandemic through the eyes of her main character, Diana O’Toole, and Diana’s boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident who’s battling the pandemic on the frontlines.

Diane is stranded in the Galápagos Islands during the global lockdowns, while Finn is working 32 hour hospital shifts in the ICU losing hope of helping covid patients survive. Diana befriends a teen and her single father, and experiences firsthand, the beauty of the flora and fauna of Isabela Island and it’s people. This is where she starts to reevaluate her life.

This novel, as told through Jodi Picoult’s gift of tackling hard subjects with care, is a well executed and researched depiction of the pandemic. It’s a rollercoaster ride full of emotions. This story grabbed hold of my heart and held it long after I finished.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine via NetGalley for kindly providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I finally finished a Jodi Picoult book! I have tried a few in the past, but usually end up abandoning them a quarter of the way through for being a bit cheesy. However, I really enjoyed this one about a woman who gets stuck in the Galapagos during COVID lockdown while her boyfriend is stuck working as a doctor in NYC.
While there, she slows down enough to reconsider her carefully planned out life, and things take an unexpected turn.
The real-life COVID aspects were difficult to read, but creatively done, and the plot was thought-provoking.

I was unsure how I would feel about a pandemic based book since I’ve been reading to escape reality for the last two years. However, this book was brilliant.

At the beginning, when the eerie calm before the storm is described, I could vividly picture where I was in the early March weeks and instantly connected with the narrative and it’s characters.

Around the middle, I felt like the author was doing too much with the pandemic, careers, relationships, trips, etc. but there was a big woah moment that really brought it all together that I appreciated.

While some aspects didn’t end how I might have hoped or imagined in the beginning, I felt satisfied with how things were left.

Definitely recommend this book and thanks to Net Galley for the early cop

Wow…this book was a lot of ups and downs. I was traveling to get engaged at the start of the pandemic. We had 2.5 days in London before we had to rush home, and thankfully he got the proposal in before we left. But needless to say I could relate to Diane.
This was hard to read, it really brought back the early days of the pandemic and the fear and the loss. Not just of people but experiences. The grief of watching the world you know change overnight. We are all still dealing with that, the whole world has PTSD from it not just the COVID survivors. This book to me was about evaluating your life and finding what truly matters in it, because tomorrow is never guaranteed.

I originally gave this book a 4, but after a week I've still been thinking about it, so I changed my rating to a 5! It's a slow burn at the beginning, building up the characters and the setting, which I've heard others didn't enjoy but I really did. I don't want to give anything away but it takes some twists and turns so clear out your schedule! You won't want to put it down!

Bestselling author Jodi Picoult shares that she suffers from asthma and when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she was understandably petrified at the prospect of contracting the virus. Her fear rendered her unable to write or even read as she quarantined at her New Hampshire home for fifteen months. She had a "real sense of being un-seen and not knowing who I was or what I did anymore." When she finally found herself able to resume work, she pondered, "How are we going to chronicle this pandemic? How do we tell the tale of how the world shut down, and why, and what we learned?" By November 2020, she knew she wanted to make sense of all that transpired during a lost year. Wish You Were Here is her answer to those questions. She describes it as a story about how "best-laid plans that go awry, survival and the resilience of the human spirit, love and loss, and how one experience can change the way you think about and live the rest of your life."

After Picoult was able to resume reading -- romance novels provided the route because of their happy endings -- and eventually began writing again, she happened upon an article about a Japanese man who became stranded in Machu Pichu as a result of travel restrictions. So he transformed from a tourist to a resident. Having visited the Galapagos, she wondered if, by chance, any tourists had been stranded there. She discovered that Ian Melvin, a Scottish tourist, was trapped on Isabela Island for months and was able to not only contact him, but also some of the island's residents. She wanted to explore the concept of isolation, and how it can be "devastating . . . but can also be the agent of change" so she decided to write about what it "felt like to be stuck in paradise while the rest of the world was going to hell."

Of course, in relationship to a worldwide pandemic, survival and resilience also figured prominently into her research, and she interviewed medical professionals on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19. She also reached out to patients who successfully fought the deadly disease, specifically people who survived being on ventilators. They described experiencing dream states that were realistic and detailed. Most of their dreams fell into one of four categories: the inclusion of a basement; being restrained or kidnapped; the appearance of a deceased loved one; or the death of a loved one. When asked to explain how the experience changed their lives, many reported that they still return to their dream-state and it can feel as vivid and real as a parallel existence. Picoult reports that many brought her full circle to the concept of isolation. "When you find yourself utterly alone on a rocky outcropping or on a ventilator -- the only place to find strength is in yourself. As one woman told me, 'I'm not looking for anything outside of me anymore. I'm like, this is it I've got everything I need.'" Picoult believes that a uniform, universal reaction to the pandemic -- whether or not one actually contracted COVID-19 -- is having "a much clearer sense of what matters. . . . It's having no expectations but taking nothing for granted. . . . It's realizing that we could wake up tomorrow and the world could shut down. It's knowing that at the very end of life, no matter what your net worth is and the length of your CV, the only thing you want is someone beside you, holding your hand."

It is best to read Wish You Were Here with little advance knowledge of the plot and no expectations. Picoult has penned a thoroughly engaging story featuring intriguing and empathetic characters. At the center of the tale is Diana, an ambitious, twenty-nine-year-old New Yorker. She was never close to her mother, a photojournalist who was rarely at home while she was growing up and now suffers from dementia. Her father died tragically four years ago. Diana, an associate specialist at Sotheby's, has very specific career trajectory goals and unexpectedly builds a rapport with a prospective client, Kitomi Ito, whose life story closely parallels Yoko Ono's. Widowed many years earlier when her husband, a British musician, was murdered on the steps of the tony apartment building on Manhattan's Upper West Side (where the historic Dakota is situated) in which they resided, Ito is now ready to auction off a Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painting. Diana and her difficult boss, Eve, are determined to convince her to retain Sotheby's to handle the sale.

But it's March 13, 2020, the world is gradually shutting down as the COVID-19 outbreak spreads . . . and Ito decides to delay parting with the painting due to her concerns about the virus.

Diana and her boyfriend, Finn, have saved their money, budgeted, and booked a dream vacation to the Galapagos Islands. But with COVID-19 quickly ravaging New York City, Finn, a surgical resident, is pressed into service, along with all other staff. Suddenly, instead of operating on patients, he finds himself trying to save those who have contracted the deadly virus and taking a vacation is out of the question. But he urges Diana to go without him so that they don't lose the money they have expended. Somewhat reluctantly, she departs and boards the ferry that will carry her almost to Isabela Island. As she nears the water taxi that will take her on the last leg of the journey, she notices the crowd of people waiting and is informed they are all trying to get back to Santa Cruz Island because the island is locking down for two weeks. She is offered the chance to return to Santa Cruz on the last departing ferry, but opts to proceed. As the water taxi leaves, Diana observes in the first-person narrative Picoult employs, "Suddenly it hits me: in an effort to seem more chill than I actually am, I have just stranded myself on an island." She is indeed isolated and alone -- the hotel and most businesses on the island are also closing, leaving her with no lodging or food. Fortunately, an old woman sees her and takes her in, permitting her to stay in a small apartment behind her house.

Diana reminds herself, "You are on an adventure," and works at embracing her situation. Picoult details her exploration of the beautiful island and the relationships she develops with her rescuer, Abuela, as well as Abuela's grandson, Gabriel, a former tour operator, and Beatriz, his troubled and sullen teenage daughter. Beatriz has returned to the island from school to ride out the pandemic. Beatriz gradually takes Diana into her confidence, and promises to mail the postcards that Diana writes to Finn each day.

When she can manage to pick up a wi-fi signal, Diana reads the emails Finn sends regularly describing, in heartbreaking and realistic detail, what he is experiencing as a physician on the front lines and the horror that is unfolding back home in New York City. He writes to Diana, "This virus is like a storm that just won't ease up You know on some rational level that it can't stay like this forever. Except, it does. And gets worse." He expresses his thankfulness that Diana is away, safe from the virus that is straining medical resources and claiming lives, as well as his frustrations and sense of helplessness as, completely exhausted, he and his fellow medical professionals continue caring for the unyielding barrage of patients. Diana feels some guilt for having taken the trip without Finn, especially when he shares how hard it is to be alone after staggeringly challenging stints at the hospital.

The two-week lockdown stretches into months, and Diana's feelings for her newfound friends deepen, causing her to question the decisions she made leading up to her sojourn to the island.

Picoult delivers a clever, shocking twist that suddenly lands Diana back in New York City and her old life. But she is unable to acclimate and adapt to being home. Diana is at first confused, wondering whether she is the one who changed or if the people around her, including Finn, have. She gradually comes to realize that her vivid and detailed recollections of all that she experienced and felt while in the Galapagos have irrevocably and fundamentally changed her. Her memories compel her to reevaluate every aspect of her life: the goals she set for herself before the pandemic, as well as her self-imposed timeline within which to achieve them. Suddenly the competitive world of art auctions doesn't have the allure it once did and she reconsiders her fractious relationship with her mother.

When it comes to tackling thorny questions about life and individual choices, Picoult has no literary equal. She employs her signature style to construct a deeply moving exploration of Diana's experiences. Each of her characters is fully developed and multi-layered, and there is no villain in her story . . . except, of course, the persistent, mutating virus. Rather, Wish You Were Here features characters who do the best they can, considering the circumstances they -- and the rest of the world -- were thrust into in 2020. Diana and Finn confront their fears in their own unique ways and, although no one emerges unscathed, Picoult affirms through their stories that the worst of times often bring out the best in each of us.

Ultimately, Diana learns that "you can't plan your life. Because then you have a plan. Not a life." If COVID-19 taught us nothing else, it proved that point conclusively. From Picoult's perspective, "the world pressed pause. When we stopped moving, we noticed that the ways we have chosen to validate ourselves are lists of items or experiences we need to have, goals that are monetary or mercenary." She hopes that surviving the pandemic has taught us all, just like Diana in Wish You Were Here, "to take the wins in a much smaller way." And that the book serves as a guide for "reflection and of connection to one another," helping her readers to, as she has, consider how the experience of living through the pandemic has changed the way they view the rest of their lives and enabling them to focus on what is most important to them.

I love Jodi Picoult and I enjoyed this book., I read this book about COVID-19 while still during the pandemic.

I wasn't sure I was ready to read a book about the pandemic and the global shutdown that started in March of 2020, but Picoult changed my mind. Her thorough research and suburb storytelling perfectly portrayed the fears, uncertainty, and dedication of the frontline workers in New York hospitals battling a virus they knew little about in the early days. Picoult's characters are so well-developed; they feel like friends. And--as with all her novels--I was invested in the lives of the people I was reading about from the get-go. A clever plot twist explores some of the murky and unknown side effects and experiences of people who have dealt with COVID and begs the question: What's really important to you in life? All in all, another FANTASTIC novel by an author who will always be at the top of my reading stack.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Jodi Picoult book and after reading Wish You Were Here, I will be reading all of her books!
The story is about Diana O’Toole a young professional who lives in New York City with her boyfriend, Finn, who is a surgical resident in a NYC hospital. Diana has her life all planned out down to the details. She and Finn have a romantic vacation to the Galapagos planned and she’s confident that this is when Finn will propose.

Unfortunately, before their dream vacation comes to fruition, NYC is being ravaged by the corona virus and he has to stay in NYC to help with all of the patients pouring into the hospital. Finn encourages her to go ahead to the Galapagos because their vacation is non-refundable. Diana hesitantly agrees with him and sets off on the vacation alone.
The vacation is off to a bumpy start when her luggage is lost and she discovers there is no consistent internet on the island, leaving her feeling disconnected from Finn. To make matters worse, while on the island the borders close to travel now she is stuck in the Galapagos until they re-open, and no one knows when that will be. She does meet a local family and she is grateful for the company and their help. All of this free time on an island with scarce internet leaves Diana with a lot of time to contemplate her life and relationships.

This book drew me in immediately. The characters are so well developed and relatable. The author must have done extensive research on the Galapagos because the details have such clear imagery, I could picture myself there.
What I loved the most about this book is that it was unpredictable. I never saw the plot twist coming, I was shook, and I’ll leave it at that, I don’t want to spoil it. This is a book I would recommend!

Diana has her life planned out and everything is going according to plan. She wants to be married by 30, finish having kids by 35 and eventually move into the New York suburbs. Diana believes her boyfriend is about to propose, so the next goal is within her reach. Her plans quickly change when a virus reaches American cities and her boyfriend is called into work at his hospital. He encourages Diana to take their planned vacation, especially since it is nonrefundable. She arrives as the island goes into quarantine and she has nowhere to go and no way to notify anyone. A local woman takes pity on her and Diana is forced to learn hidden truths about herself and those around her.

Wish You Were Here is a stand-alone realistic fiction story that takes events from the Covid-19 pandemic and condenses them into a novel that can be enjoyed. Picoult has included many different viewpoints and weaved them into a single storyline for us. There is a twist about two-thirds of the way through the book that had me saying … wait! Once that twist was fully seated, though, I enjoyed this new trajectory the story took. Some readers may feel this book is still too close to the pandemic we are currently living in, but I thought it was well designed and a satisfying read.

Yea. I was hooked.

So I was lucky enough to get sent this months ago. I was seeing a ton of mixed reviews on it, so I didn’t prioritize it.

But then I talked to Friend about it. And then I read her post about it. So, here we are. I’m glad she loved it because there was this one part where my mouth fell open, I had chicken skin all over. I replayed and reread one part like 4 times to make sure I wasn’t tripping. I had to text someone about it and said she got chills again just thinking about that part.

Wow.

Will this be historical fiction at some point? How come this almost feels like a memoir or some sort of nonfiction.

👩‍⚕️ Showed dark, scary side of being doctor during this time.
🧻 Showed some differences of before this thing started and how things unfolded as we sailed into this uncharted territory.
🌋 The tropical location.
📝So quotable, I wrote some down to share.

So much depth. So much vulnerability. So much worry. So topical. So relevant.

A nod to the healthcare heroes. A nod to the people who suffered from covid. A nod to everyone that’s lived with it, aka all of us.

The author’s note was really relatable. She spoke about how we adapt. How books can help us escape. She also touched on how she had asthma and was scared about the virus. I’ve had asthma my entire life and have been on a twice a day steroid since I was 14. I was careful and selective during this time because like the author said, I can’t breathe good on a normal day, what would this do to me. She touches on how the world pressed pause but we have to keep going.

This was amazing. The audio was fantastic. *chef’s kiss*

Thanks to @librofm for this ALC copy. #librofm Also, thanks to @ballantine for the ARC.

This book, this book. I was very anxious to read a book that not only took place during Covid but was rumored to reference it very significantly in terms of the plot, but I am glad that I pushed past my hesitations. If you are going to read a novel about Covid, you want it to be as compassionate and carefully researched at this one. Seriously, I read the entire acknowledgements, because I was so curious on how she got so much right.

Diana and her boyfriend Finn live in New York City, he is a surgical resident, and she works in Art Sales. They are both very driven and have been planning out their lives with exacting energy. It is 2020, and they have saved for a vacation to the Galapagos for like four years. When Covid first appears in the horizon that March, he tells her to go on the trip without him on their dream vacation, because they cannot the deposit back. She goes and winds up in lockdown on an island, where she gradually becomes increasingly involved with the family that takes her in.

There is a twist after the halfway point that you will not see coming, but this book really did a fantastic job of giving you that look at how easy one choice changes everything. I could not put this book down, and I thought I was sick of talking about the last year.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

I've struggled with how to review this. Granted, I gobbled it up, beguiled by Picoult's storytelling and turning the pages quickly. But lingering in my mind is the question of how someone who has had COVID would read it. Diana's perfect life working at Sotheby's and living with her handsome physician boyfriend Finn implodes when COVID arrives in NYC. At Finn's urging, she heads to the Galapagos for the vacation they were meant to take together and there she meets Beatriz and Gabriel. Or does she? Picoult is clever and I don't think given the number of reviews at this point that it's a spoiler to say that she's actually dreaming the whole thing while on a ventilator. Her rehab and recovery are complicated in part by the dreams she continues to have and there's a lengthy explanation of the dreams of others. Then there's the issue of her mother, who is in a care facility due to dementia. I felt for Finn who as a physician was struggling not only with hie patients but also with his guilt about and pain for Diana. As always with Picoult, she has taken a horrible things- COVID- and good characters to write what will no doubt speak to many. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. It's an interesting read.

Jodi Picoult has written another great novel, made for book clubs, open discussion, and thought provoking reflection. Is it my favorite novel by her? Probably not. I'm not sure it's the most memorable either. But it's still pretty good. If you're a long time fan of Picoult, like me, you won't be disappointed!

Thank you Netgalley and RHPG Ballantine for providing me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

My Review:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 stars

This contemporary fiction by Jodi Picoult is gripping from the get-go. It is March 2020, right when Covid -19 was just starting to surge in the world. Diana O’Toole is at her dream job at Sothebys, living with her surgery resident boyfriend Finn, and on track to getting engaged on their trip to the Galapagos. Until the Virus seems to take over and Finn is unable to leave on vacation as the hospital is surging with cases. He insists she goes alone and enjoy the time in the sun and not waste their nonrefundable tickets. She ends up going and quickly realises the true meaning of quarantine: the small island barely has any phone service, her hotel/town is closed, and the ferry is shut down. She is stranded and there is no way home - pushing her to befriend locals like Beatriz and her father, Gabriel. She quickly realises that what she thought she wanted in her life is not what she truly wants - and that there is more to life than just plans.

This has been one of my favorite reads this year. All of the details about COVID patients and the distress of health workers in 2020 really hit home. Also the story shifts into something completely different than what you expect. At first heartbreaking and disappointing, it weaves into a much bigger picture that is much more profound. Loved it!

Thank you to Ballantine Books / Randomhouse & Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Diana is pleased with her life but when Covid hits, everything changes.⁣
⁣
I won't say too much about this book except that I had it for a long time and kept putting it off because I wasn't sure if I was ready for a pandemic related book. Like most, I have lost family members to Covid so details in this book were particularly hard to read without getting teary. I will say that as hard as it was to get through, I am really glad I read it. It has been a long time since I've read a Jodi Picoult book and her manner of pulling you into the story so emotionally hasn't changed a bit. I was drained by the end of the story but in a way that only an amazing writer can achieve.