Dear Edward is an immensely readable novel with a highly original storyline. It starts when Eddie, his older brother Jordan and their parents join 188 others boarding a flight going from New York to Los Angeles. Edward's family are relocating to experience a new life on the West coast. But the plane crashes. Eddie [ from this point on he is only known as Edward ] is the only survivor. How he comes to terms with this dreadful disaster is skilfully interwoven with flashbacks revealing what happened during the fatal flight. A cleverly crafted novel it delves deeply into the psychological issues he faces and how Shay - a girl with her own, slightly odd characteristics - proves to be a real catalyst to his recovery. Sensitive, perceptive and thought provoking this novel makes one re-evaluate how society should treat survivors of a catastrophe so as not to deepen their trauma. Definitely add Dear Edward to your bookshelf.

I had high hopes for this book but I just couldn’t get into it. It jumped back and forward and I felt it was rushed in a way. I hate leaving a poor review but unfortunately I have to.

A plane en route from New York to Los Angeles crashes in Colorado countryside, killing all but one young 12 year old boy - Edward. His older brother, mother and father are amongst those whose lives are lost, leaving only an aunt and uncle to look after him when he is eventually discharged from hospital in a totally traumatised state. How does a 12 year old grieve and survive such a shock? The reader is taken through his road to recovery in New Jersey interspersed with the experience of the actual flight. He naturally finds it difficult to settle and to achieve the anonymity he craves, but thanks to Shay, a neighbour’s daughter, he eventually makes progress in small steps and starts to find his feet. His world is once more turned somewhat upside down when he and Shay discover that his uncle’s shed is harbouring piles of documentation relating to the disaster, including two bags full of unopened letters from relatives of deceased passengers. Reading these forces him to face up to his future. A deeply moving story.

An interesting read. Edward is the only survivor of a plane crash. I thought that overall the story was good and it held my attention most of the time. It is well written but a bit too long in places.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Eddie steps onboard a flight taking him to LA from New York. He and his family are moving for his mother's job as a script writer. His fellow passengers are all travelling for life-changing reasons, a soldier returning home having been wounded in Afghanistan, Linda travelling towards a new life with the man she loves, Florida doing the opposite. Mark is a business magnate, young and hungry, heading to the deal of his life, Crispin Cox was a young hungry business magnate travelling for the deal of his life - to save it now he is wheelchair bound and riddled with cancer. And then the plane crashes. There is one survivor, Eddie, or Edward as he now is - Eddie died wit his family on the plane, and Edward is what's left of that person.

This novel is written in two time frames which in itself is a triumph as once you know the plane crashes and everyone is killed, going back to the plane and charting its final flight could fall flat, but it doesn't and despite the very factual treatment of the actions of the pilots and the causes of the crash, it is dreadfully poignant. The other half of the novel charts Edward's life in the immediate aftermath and the subsequent years as he comes to terms with a new reality.

The title of the novel comes from the letters that people write to Edward that he doesn't discover until two years after the crash and how he handles the requests from people, some doable (write to my children, they lost their mother) and others less so (be a pianist / nurse / musician / climb a mountain for my lost loved one). One stands out for him and his new best friend Shay and that one makes a difference and changes the way Edward thinks about what has happened to him.

The explanation of the causes of the crash is astounding, reads like a passage from Aircrash Investigations and just as detailed. The research must have been lengthy, a labour of love, and yet probably quite harrowing for the author.

Although the novel is not written in my favourite tense, first person present and it jumps from character to character in a way that can be unnerving, I suspect the published book with the full, correct, formatting will make it a lot easier to decipher - the arc provided for this review was appalling and made it very hard to read (all italics ran together into one loooooooog word, the lines were muddled, some ran straight on, others broke in weird places) so I have to trust that the author wasn't too eccentric and wrote in a manner that could be followed more logically.

A fabulous, thought-provoking novel. It was hard to see how it could end in a satisfying manner, but it manages it.

I found this book interesting to begin with, but struggled to keep reading it. I did not find the main character very endearing and he seemed to moan a lot. I really only kept reading the book to find out what caused the plane to crash. You need to read the whole book to find this out. When I finally finished I was pleased that I had read the book and had not given up. It was nice story but not my sort of book.

Started reading this; finished a few hours later, having read it all in one sitting. I was utterly drawn in by the story and characters, and cried at the end.

Not for me, the first few chapters felt all over the place, but I’m not sure if that’s because it is an early in-edited copy and everything was merged in together...paragraphs, new sections etc, it all seemed a bit messy. I will try it again when an edited copy comes out and it’s more clear where one section ends and another starts.

Wow, I don't think a book has ever moved me or will stay with me as much or as long as this one will.
I loved everything about it! I haven't been able to put it down since the second I picked it up and I feel so privileged to know I'm one of the first people to read it.
Edward is such a loveable character and I felt like I was there with him.
The way the book was written was great, going back to the plane crash so I could find out exactly what happened gave so much more depth to the story too.
I will recommend this book to everyone!

I must admit, I was a bit dubious about reading thus, as a lot of people had said it was slow and/or depressing. Truthfully, it’s not. Happy book - it’s very thoughtful and the grief is relentless.
I did find the stories of another passengers a little hard work - knowing they were about to die in a plane crash (not a spoiler), it seemed a bit unnecessary to know so much about them. However, I’d suggest you stick with it - Edward’s story brings them into it in the later part of the book.
I found Edward himself to be a likeable, believable character, and the book to be interest reading. I liked how his new life slowly came together with acceptance of the horrifying events leading up to it. The use of the time jumps throughout can be slightly annoying, but pulls well together as the book progresses.
Recommended.

This duel narrative switches and shifts, much like he motion of the plane on its journey. A powerful tale of change, devastation and triumph. How in he midst of despair, friendship forms and saves what’s left. Simply beautiful.

So much more than just a coming of age story, this is a beautifully crafted tale of the path a 12-year old boy has to navigate when he loses everything that makes up who he is. As he painfully pulls himself into a place where he can - just about - survive, you are rooting for him on every page. Past and present are gracefully alternated with totally believable characters developed at every stage. Read, weep and rejoice.

A powerful premise: lone child survives airplane crash which kills 191. This story explores how a sole survivor goes on with their life after losing their family and becoming a totem for all the families of the dead. I was interested in the peripheral characters here and how they treated Edward and could empathise with those who wanted contact with someone who was connected with their loss. This isn't a cheerful read but is thoughtful and reflective on topics of love and community and healing. My only quibble was with the romance aspect - I felt that was unnecessary and took away from the purity and innocence of the central relationship. Why couldn't it just be an incredible connection that didn't require conventional definition?

A beautiful book, which made me think, appreciate my life a little more, and shed a few tears at the end. Edward is a very believable, and lovable character. Various stories are cleverly interwoven, and the ending is just perfect. I would recommend this book whole-heartedly.

If I could give this book more stars, I would!
I read this book courtesy of Netgalley who were kind enough to send me an advance copy. I wasn’t sure whether I was going to like it - would it be mawkish? Would it be depressing? It was neither of these thing.
The book was about a plane en route to Los Angeles from New York, which crashed killing everyone on board except a twelve year old boy called Eddie. His parents and adored older brother, who was fifteen, were no more, and Eddie was badly injured, both in body and mind.
The story was told both in flashback to the plane before the crash, where we met some of the other passengers and got to know them too and the new and changed life of Eddie, now Edward, who was adopted by his mother’s sister and her husband, who had no children of their own, and have to learn how to treat and care for their nephew.
Next door, live a Mexican mother and daughter Besa and Shay, and Edward finds great comfort being in their house. Shay is a great little character, two months older than Edward, and tact isn’t her best feature, but somehow her straightforward attitude and her easy way with Edward, starts to slowly help him on his way to recovery. There are many other characters in this book to get to know and like, and it’s impossible not to get caught up their lives too.
I wholeheartedly recommend this book, it’s so well written and so uplifting, I’m looking forward to reading more of Ann Napolitano’s books

Dear Edward is a really interesting idea for a novel. In brief, Edward at 12 is the only survivor of a plane crash which kills nearly 200 others including his parents and brother. Edward goes to live with his also grieving aunt and uncle. It takes a while in the book, but we eventually discover that letters have been sent to Edward from relatives of the crash victims. Yes it is unrealistic that over 100 relatives of people who had been killed in a crash would write to Edward, a teenage boy: but it is a good idea and could have been wonderful if only the writing had centred more on these letters. I enjoyed hearing about how Edward and his family coped with the aftermath of the plane crash but I did find the flashbacks to the lives of some of the other passengers rather tedious and somewhat unnecessary. Once Edward and Shay began to open the letters, it became more relevant and interesting and I wish the book had given a larger proportion to this idea as I believe it had more to give. .

I received an ARC of this title from Net Galley to my Kindle in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank the publisher and Ann Neapolitano for letting me read it.

Dear Edward is about 192 people who get on a plane to Los Angeles for different reasons and each has a story to tell throughout the book.

The plane crashes over Colorado and there is only 1 survivor - Eddie / Edward who was travelling with his dad and brother in economy whilst his mum was in first class and who have left New York to start a new life in California.

I must admit that when I started to read the book I found it hard to keep going and was tempted to not finish the ARC copy, but after a few chapters I really got into the story and just wanted to keep reading and find out how Edward Adler coped with being the only survivor and losing his family.

If you are scared of flying, I would not recommend this book as the last few chapters are quite graphic on what happens for the plane to crash. And as a person whose not too bad with flying, even I found it hard reading the content.

As the book unfolds after Edward is rescued you follow his journey of survival and how it affects those around him. His only way of staying grounded is to have his friend Shay with him, who is the neighbours daughter to his aunt and uncle who become Edwards legal guardians.

Shay and Edward form a bond that is unbreakable after he starts to sleep in Shays bedroom as he finds it comforting to be with Shay than sleeping at his aunt and uncles house. When Shay says that Edward can no longer stay the night as she has reached puberty he finds it hard to understand why Shay has changed, but in reality it is Edward who has changed.

It takes Shay to tell him how he has been acting to make him realise that he is depressed and has been reading into things that are not really there.

When Edward finds that his uncle has been keeping articles from newspapers, letters and other details from him in the garage about the crash, Shay and Edward start to go through everything that has been hidden and read every letter sent from the victims families. Shay suggests that they sort them into piles and keeps a spreadsheet for everyone read so that they can decide what to do with them.

Edward is left over 7 million dollars from Jax a brother of Mark who was on the plane and who does not want the fortune that was left to him. He asks Edward to do what he wants with the money if he feels that he does not want to keep it.

Edward decides to the donate money to victims families without them knowing that the money is from him via charities.

I decided to give the book 5 stars, even though it took me a few chapters to get into it as it was thought provoking, poignant and emotional and it makes you realise that you only have one life and you should live it to the max. You never know what is around the corner.

It is not a lighthearted novel and is very dark in places, especially when you read about the other passengers and why they are flying to Los Angeles to start a new life and what it means to them to have that chance to start over again, but it is taken from them and the despair that the families feel afterwards.

The ending is uplifting and gives you hope for the future of Edward and Shay.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

I read this book for review purposes for Netgalley.

This book begins on a flight to Los Angeles from New York.
We meet some of the passengers and find out bits and pieces from the it lives and what some of them are going through in their lives.
The blurb is quite open about what happens next.
The plane goes down in Colorado, with the lives of everyone on board gone forever. Except for a young man named Edward Adler. 12 years old Eddie was traveling with his brother Jordan, his father Bruce and mother Jane. The story of what happened during the flight and what Edward had to do in terms of acceptance and moving on, is dipped into back and forth as the story unfolds.

I really enjoyed reading Dear Edward. It doesn’t explain the title until nearer the end of the book. The epilogue made me hold my breath and tear up a bit.
If the reader has ever lost anyone it does make you think and wonder what if, but I think that’s something that happens naturally to those left behind. This type of tragedy is bound to. But I feel that the story is cleverly written. I wanted to know how Edward was going to react to things and it isn’t all about just Edward either.

I’m looking forward to reading more from Ann Napolitano.

I would like to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. I enjoyed it, although the story is quite harrowing at times, it is also uplifting.

I struggled with this book and eventually gave up on it. The formatting to the kindle was quite poor.