Wow, this is a must read, Anyone who been living in the last year should pick this up and read maybe twice so you doing miss the important truths! live for today!

Jodi Picoult’s latest novel is born out of Covid-19. She wrote it during the pandemic, and it is set during the first few months of the shutdown. Diana is an associate at Sotheby’s and her live-in boyfriend, Finn, is a surgical resident. Just as they are about to take a dream vacation to the Galapagos Island (where Finn will no doubt pop the question), Covid breaks out in New York City. Finn, who must work extra shifts, encourages Diana to go without him. Perhaps she will escape the virus in the southern hemisphere. But no, just as she arrives at Isabela Island, the hotels and restaurants shut down. She is alone in a foreign country with a useless credit card and cell phone and without her lost luggage.

While Diana endeavors to navigate an exotic foreign land where she doesn’t speak the language and feels like “the last person on earth,” Finn composes emails -- that don’t reach her -- detailing life on the Covid front lines. (Today, as the tension and rhetoric increase in the US with yet another surge, Finn’s emails serve as a reminder of the toll taken on our health care professionals.)

While the two main characters struggle to survive their strange new worlds, Picoult offers poignant observations on art and isolation. For example, “A painting … is a partnership. The artist starts a dialogue, and you finish it.” The isolation theme reprises in absentee parents, in dementia, in misunderstandings, in the ICU experience. But isolation can also be a catalyst for change.

Picoult takes us on a thought-filled journey through the grim hallways of NYC hospitals during Covid, as well as the exquisite landscape and fauna of Galapagos. Who is the fittest? And what does survival look like?

Diana, a NYC art auctioneer, is ready to take the trip of a lifetime to the Galápagos Islands with her boyfriend Finn. The life she planned for herself is panning out perfectly: job, boyfriend, travels, and hopefully a proposal, suburban house, kids and a dog. But when the world shuts down due to coronavirus, she decides to head to the Galapagos without her boyfriend, who must stay behind as a surgeon in a NYC hospital. What she finds there is almost too good to be true, she becomes one of the locals, explores the sights she’s been longing to see, and befriends a family and helps them navigate their own problems. But what about the world she left behind? Is it still waiting for her, or has she moved on to a different plan? As the novel unfolds, Picoult explores the ways in which coronavirus has affected the world in so many ways, from ventilators to isolation to recovery and a return to normalcy. Diana’s story hits close to home, while exploring all the unknowns of coronavirus.

Jodi Picoult is a novelist known for tackling hot-button issues. Past novels have dealt with racism, abortion, organ donation, suicide, and more. Her latest book, "Wish You Were Here," tackles COVID-19 and features lockdowns, a nursing home, and even a character who is a medical resident treating ICU patients with the virus.

In the story, Diana and her boyfriend Finn are about to leave for their dream vacation in the Galapagos Islands. But right before they're supposed to leave, patients start showing up at the ER where Finn works in New York City. As a resident, he is told he cannot go on vacation - it's all-hands-on-deck to treat this new virus that is making people so ill. The trip is non-refundable, so Finn tells Diana to go anyway because rumor has it there will be a lockdown in the city anyway. Diana is reluctant (and surprised by Finn's decision to tell her to leave without him), but decides to go. As she arrives in the tropical paradise, the islands are put on lockdown and she's not able to get home. The story follows Diana's efforts to reach out to Finn in the US, but he's working nearly 24/7 and isn't answering his phone.

The story is interspersed with emails between the two, as well as postcards Diana is writing and sending back to the States. It's a beautiful story of loneliness, found family, and going from a traveler to a local. There's a twist that I didn't see coming at all, in true Jodi Picoult style.

I will admit it is strange to read a fictionalized account of the current global pandemic - it felt very real and included references to things that actually happened, like the PPE hospital workers had to wear, the nightly banging of pots and pans in appreciation of first responders, mentions of the US federal government's inaction in the early phases, and even a Dr. Fauci reference or two. For any reader willing to "lean in" to the pandemic and read a fictionalized account of it, I highly recommend this novel.

Jodi Picoult's Wish You Were Here is a must-read book that puts the pandemic in proper perspective. Certainly better than any other medium has been able to accomplish. It is a book of great maturity and depth; it is well-written. In this book, the focus is not just on the pandemic but on those who have made tremendous efforts to save lives in the face of it. My attention was captured by this book; wow, what an excellent way to view the pandemic in context.

Without a doubt, the COVID-19 quarantine is the hardest thing I have ever gone through. I know that Jodi Picoult had a hard time with it too. She took this challenging time and turned it into an amazing book I was so happy to get and advance readers’ copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion, but the opinion is my own.
This book is fantastic. Jodi has outdone herself on this book. Her skill as a writer has matured and blossomed. It comes through loud and clear in Wish You Were Here. Set during the current pandemic, a young couple long awaited vacation is nearly ruined due to COVID. The twists and turns the story takes from here have to be told by Jodi, not me. I can only tel you that I was never disappointed. I was surprised, moved, and frequently wished it wasn’t just a story. Jodi, please break your mold and write a sequel to this. My heart needs more.
So much bad came - and is still coming - from the pandemic. This book is the silver lining. Thanks, Jodi, from a world of grateful readers!

Outstanding! Classic Jodi Picoult and absolutely caught my attention and I didn’t want to put down!

COVID. COVID burnout. COVID reality. COVID loss. Fear pain. Heartbreak we are all living in a new reality where the fleeting nature of life hits home daily. Jodi Picoult’s latest book may feel too close to home right now, however, we need this book. We need it now to remember the sacrifices our medical community made and continues to make. We need it to understand how a person recovers from this virus and its lingering effects. If reading this book causes people to rush out and get vaccinated, it deserves a million stars I will be recommending this book to one and all. As always, Ms. Picoult did her research. This book will stand the test of time and someday be considered historical fiction. Right now this contemporary fiction is reality.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I wish I would have read Wish You Were Here a few years after the Covid-19 pandemic has ended, because reading this book in the middle of a variant surge brought back all the fear and paranoia of the first months of 2020. Jodi Picoult is masterful at bringing you in to a time and place and then setting you in the position to internally debate; What would I do in this scenario? For some of us, our loved ones have been through similar experiences fighting this virus, and may have lost their fight rather than have to learn to live in the aftermath. This novel is just too real for this moment, and may cause more anguish than it heals for those who are directly affected.

Wish you were Here
BY Jodi Picoult
Publishing date November 30, 2021

I love Jodi Picoult books!
I got 86% through this book and the book disappeared from my NetGalley account. I am now in a pickel.
I have to wait until November!!! to finish the book... egads.
Anyway, this was a great book and I eagerly can't wait to finish it.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

We will purchase it our library!
5 stars

this was NOT what i expected. I think we ALL related to this book (or will if you havent read it yet). It is so hard to describe since i never consider "coming of age" books to be for adults headed to 30 in a train! hahah.
this book is about the uncertain future of your life, your love, turning 30, COVID, loneliness, change and refreshing starts. The work is beautifully written that I had dreams I was actually there and now I want to get there!

As I began this novel I found myself totally disinterested in the story, characters, etc. Then came part 2 which brought us into vivid. I think it's too soon for me to read about an individual's suffering. That plus the odd interpolation of part 1 I found unbelievable and a bite
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book. Diana seems to have it all: a great job at Sotheby’s where she’s doing well, about to take an incredible vacation with her boy friend Finn and then Covid happens. Truthfully I didn’t know how I would feel going into this. I give Jodi Picoult big credit for writing this, but I wondered if it was too soon. With cases still on the rise and the trauma still so close to home did I really want to read a covid story? However, being a devoted Jodi Picoult fan I dove right in. I wasn’t let down. I learned something that I didn’t know, remembered the dark times that were starting to fade a little and put on lenses that I hadn’t seen through before. I read to escape and was skeptical about escaping to a world that may have not looked too different than my own and yet I did. Well done Ms. Picoult, you did not disappoint.

Perhaps my favorite Picoult book so far. Easily readable, great pacing, strong character development. Highly recommend!

Wow! If I could give this book 10 stars I would! At times this book was tough to read but at others I just couldn’t put it down. It takes place during Covid (which makes it hard to read while we are still living through all of this), but also tugs at your heartstrings all the way through. I literally could not put it down. I had to know what was going to happen next. There was a twist in the middle of the book I literally never saw coming and all I can say again is WOW! The only thing I’m going to tell about it is the main character, Diana, an art dealer, and her boyfriend, Finn, a resident surgeon, live in New York City at the beginning of the pandemic. Jodi Picoult has outdone herself! This book was AMAZING and I highly recommend it!

Wow! I'll start by saying that Jodi Picoult has definitely hit a home run here. Warning: This novel doesn't start out sounding like a Jodi Picoult novel, but stay with it.... please stay with it! What happens after the "surprise twist" about halfway through is well worth reading through the first part. There is much here about how we managed through the pandemic, and how hard it was for patients and doctors alike. But there is also much here about resilience, and living our lives with meaning. I loved the art therapy aspect that was woven through the whole book, and also the relationship with the main character's mother. Oh, and the importance of art!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this story so very much. I thought it would be too soon to read about the pandemic, but Picoult wrote the pandemic in such a memorable and heartfelt way, that I am so glad I decided to go ahead and read this now. About half way through the book, there is a HUGE plot twist, and this is not very common for a Jodi Picoult novel. However, it works very well and really makes the ending of the story so much more special after all. LOVED this book. Thank you so much for the early copy.

Wow, what an incredible novel! I absolutely loved this one and can't wait to recommend it to family and friends. Thank you, Netgalley for the ARC.

Not quite the usual page turner that I expected from Jodi Piccoult but a quick read nonetheless. In an all too real situation Diana O' Toole leaves for vacation amidst the breakout of COVID which shuts down the small island in the Galapagos just hours after she lands. While her boyfriend stays in NYC to man the hospitals, she is forced to find her way on an island where everything is shut down and very few people speak English.
As with all Jodi Piccoult books there is a big plot twist at the end. I will admit, that it wasn't my favorite and I would have wished for it to end differently.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC of Wish You Were Here. I’ve read several Jodi Picoult books and I had high expectations for this one. However, I felt the book was a little dragging and I never felt a huge connection with any of the characters. It’s hard to review much more without spoilers. I think this book will age well and have a decent audience, but it was a 3-star book for me.