Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano is a stunning new novel about family, love and loss that takes inspiration from Little Women. Like Louisa May Alcott’s classic, the novel centers around four sisters whose close bond carries them through all the changes, both joyful and painful, that adulthood brings. At first, it feels easy to draw parallels—Julia is independent Jo, Sylvie is romantic Meg, Cecelia is artistic Amy, and Emeline is sweet Beth—but as the novel progresses, the colors of the sisters seem to bleed into one another and it becomes harder to parse out who’s who. William Waters rounds out the cast as the novel’s Laurie, a quiet, lonely young man who has never had a real family. The novel begins with youthful promise; the four Padavano sisters still live with their parents in their memory-filled Chicago home, about to embark on their futures, and Julia and William are two college kids falling in love. To William’s delight, the sisters easily envelop him into the fold, and we watch as the family grows and changes together. Then, at the novel’s turning point, William is forced to reckon with past trauma, and his choices cause ripples that affect the Padavano sisters in unexpected and irrevocable ways. Hello Beautiful explores the enduring nature of love and the idea that our family lives inside of us even as we grow older and grow apart.

I absolutely loved this book. Using Little Women as more of a guide than a map, Napolitano takes the idea of four sisters and from it imagines a new story that feels simultaneously familiar and fresh. Her characters and settings pulse with life; I could so clearly see the Padavano sisters walking around the mural-lined streets of Pilsen, their mother Rose working in her garden, and young William dribbling a basketball down the court, surrounded by his teammates. And to add to the magic, Napolitano’s writing is a special blend of poetry and easeful storytelling that made me never want to stop reading. Profoundly moving, Hello Beautiful is a book that I could feel changing me for the better as I read it, and I turned the last page knowing I’d return to it many times over just like I have Little Women. Highly recommend.

I’d recommend this book to…

• Anyone searching for life-affirming writing that tugs at your heartstrings in the most genuine way… it’s similar in tone to The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
• Anyone wanting a novel that harkens back to a classic but is a fresh story that stands powerfully on its own… it’s similar in style to Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
• Anyone who loves the story of the four March sisters… it’s similar in theme to Little Women by Louisa May Alcott