4.5 ⭐📚 I've got goosebumps. Dear Edward follows the story of 12 year old Edward who is the only survivor of a Plane crash that kills 191 people, including his parents and Brother. This book had me gripped. The writing is beautiful and balances the dual timeline of before and after the tragedy so delicately. Edward's life after the crash is filled with so many heartbreaking moments, but also rare moments of joy found in the comfort of his Aunt, Uncle and his neighbour Shay. I really liked the stories from the Plane and learning about all the different characters. Each character on the plane had hopes and dreams and things they we're looking forward to or were dreading. They were just living life. The passenger's on the Plane including the Air Hostesses and the Pilots all had a story, friends, a family. They had inner struggles, issues and happiness that they were awaiting to continue after the plane lands in LA, but as the reader you know the plane will never safely land, and that thought is just haunting.

All. The. Stars!!
Dear Edward was not what I expected at all when I was offered the chance to read an ARC from NetGalley! I expected to read a story of despair, hurt, anger and upset. What I actually read was love, trust, support and hope.

Edward's family and his new friends are so very supportive and I actually found myself thinking that I could never have been so strong in their situation. As Edward moves on from the crash and the moment his life changed forever, we see his journey of growth and acceptance despite having experienced so much heartbreak at such a young age. I can't imagine how difficult this would be if it happened in real life but I felt like the characters all supported Edward so well that I just loved them all.

What a beautiful read! Well written, beautifully developed and stunningly resolved, Dear Edward shows us the best of being human and I seriously cannot recommend this book enough.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ann Napolitano and the publisher for my eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very different book to my usual read but the premise really drew me in. How does one boy survive a plane crash, how does he cope & how does he life change subsequently. Really enjoyed this book which flipped between the crash & his life. Would recommend.

We meet 12 year old Edward when he is about to board a plane with his brother and parents. When the plane crashes down, and Edward is the sole survivor, he becomes the focus of intense media interest. Taken in by his aunt and uncle, Edward must learn to live without his family, in a new state, and in a home that has previously been childless.

This book is a journey from grief and loss into love and understanding. Edward begins to learn more about the other passengers on the plane, and starts to understand the devastating consequences of the plane crash on both his own family, and the families of the other passengers grieving for their loved ones.

Although the novel focuses on a child and was often written from a child's point of view, it sat comfortably within an adult fiction genre. I am sure many aspects of this novel make it an excellent choice for young adults, too, and this book did have some profound observations on navigating a life that has been torn apart.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for my copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

A slow burning journey into grief and love, this was a powerful tale covering two different timelines; the months and years after that fateful crash and the hours and minutes leading up to it. This follows Edward, as sole survivor, as he tries to come to terms with the fact that he’s very lucky to be alive, that he’s lost his beloved parents and big brother. The loss of all those other passengers, his miraculous survival and health afterwards aren’t the only important things happening in his world. He’s thrust into the lives and care of his aunt and her husband, who are going through their own unique grief and that of next door neighbour Shay, who is angry at the world and constantly butts heads with her mum Besa. His own grief makes him blind to the goings on in the lives of those around him. I loved Edward’s journey and his relationship with Shay and how they support each other. How, through the discovery all those letters from the loved ones of those who died, seeking comfort, giving him guidance and advice and challenging him to live life to the fullest - he does the memories of his parents and brother justice by his actions.

Oh I really loved this book. It was written so beautifully that it just flowed so well.

I actually started reading it on a plane journey (Crazy!) and maybe that added to the atmosphere that I feel the author built up so well.
The detail she includes about all of the passengers made them so real and I could practically picture myself sitting there among them. She humanises them by including detail about their lives and it is apparent that they all have their issues/problems just like any one of us. They just felt so vivid to me.

The narrative style could have been very confusing as it alternates between 'Edward', in recovery as the sole survivor, and 'Eddie' as he was on the plane with his family. That is fine but the bit that could have confused readers is the fact that the sections of the book based on the plane include detail from all characters in one long flow. i.e. it does not have subheadings to show it is moving to the thoughts and lives of the next passenger. However, the characters were so distinct that I did not find this to be a problem. It really was very well done.

I loved the subtle, simple plot of Edward as he comes to terms with his new life post-crash and his friendship with Shay and his relationships with his Aunt, Uncle, Shay's mum and the school principal. At times I wanted to scream to him that he needed to open up to them more, but if he had it would not have felt as authentic.

I was very keen to find out what caused the crash and a few different scenarios crossed my mind and kept me guessing.

The inclusion of the letters to Edward, quite far into the novel, finally meant that the title of the book made sense. I loved how the letters became a turning point for him and his recovery.

A really well written and beautiful, heartbreaking book.

My ARC did not seem to have the extra content about the author's inspiration so I will definitely be researching into that a little more.

Thanks so much to Penguin and Netgalley for this ARC - I will be recommending it to family, friends and my library users.

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano

In the summer of 2013, 12-year-old Edward Adler becomes one of the most famous children in the world and for the most terrible of reasons. He was the only person to survive a catastrophic plane crash that killed every one of the other 190 passengers and crew on board. Edward’s parents and his beloved older brother Jordan were among them and now Edward must rebuild himself, piece by broken piece, in the effort to come to terms with a future denied his brother and everybody else on the plane. Edward is taken in by his aunt and uncle but it’s with his new next door neighbour Shay that Edward finds some comfort and it’s with Shay that Edward works to make sense of his survival and his fame. Edward is himself a source of comfort to the relatives and friends of those lost and they write to him, many asking Edward to live the lives that their loved ones can’t and, as Edward grows to adulthood, he must learn what it means to live, not just to survive.

Dear Edward has a fascinating premise, albeit an upsetting one and I was immediately drawn to it. I was fortunate to get hold of one of the gorgeous Waterstones special editions and reading the book was an emotional experience. The novel follows Edward through his teenage years but much of it dwells on the first year after the crash when Edward has to learn to do the most basic tasks again, devastated as he is by grief and also the trauma of falling from a plane. He can hardly even remember to eat. Edward, and the reader, discover more things that he can no longer do. Edward barely talks at all in these early days and so it’s all a puzzle for us to work out, why he can do some things and not others. He is treated with a great deal of care by his aunt and uncle, who have a difficult life themselves, his new friends and head teacher, as well as by the general public who desperately want to help him. The author, too, is extremely tender towards Edward, allowing his character time.

The novel moves between Edward’s story and those last hours on the plane. We get to know some of the people on board, including Edward’s lovely family, and we learn why they are making the flight from New York to Los Angeles. For many, it is the start of a new stage of their lives. We know, of course, that they are instead destined for the end of their lives. This made these sections, for me, very difficult to read. It didn’t help that I’m a nervous flyer!

Dear Edward is beautifully written. However, I didn’t engage with it as much as I thought I would and I’m not entirely sure why that is. I think it may be partly because I wasn’t especially interested in the lives of the other passengers but the main reason may well be that it is all simply too harrowing, painful and desperately, desperately tragic. I loved the letters, though. I really liked the engagement of others with Edward, especially his aunt and uncle and headmaster. I loved some of the people who are drawn to Edward in order to feel close to their lost loved ones. Some of them are very interesting indeed. I suspect that this may be a novel that you will get more from if you invest more of yourself in it as you read it. I wasn’t quite able to do that due to the subject matter but I know that many readers have succeeded.

A sad and compelling book about surviving and moving on after a catastrophic event. It moves back and forth between the characters on the plane and the life afterwards of Edward, the sole survivor. I did enjoy it - even with a plane journey of my own due in a couple of days. However, I also found some of it a little unbelievable in relation to Edward , sleeping every night in the room of the girl next door for example.

What a wonderful, wonderful book! Utterly heartbreaking yet so uplifting,

Ann Napolitano writes like a seasoned author; so much so it's impossible to tell that this is her first novel. The prose is tight and not a word wasted, and it is done without sentimentality, yet this seems to make it all the more powerful. Edward's anguish and confusion are tangible; I could feel it on every page. The secondary characters weren't really secondary at all - they all had fully-fleshed personalities with fears and sadness of their own. Despite the bit parts of the cast, I felt all their pain.

This is an extraordinary book and one that will undoubtedly stay with me for some time to come. Highly recommended.

Edward, a 12 year old boy survives a plane crash that kills everyone else on board including his entire family.
It is a story of profound losses, survivor guilt and the slow process of healing and continuing to live,
Heart renching, life affirming fabulous read

This was a really moving and ultimately uplifting story about Edward, the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed 191 people, including his mother, father and older brother.

The Positives: I thought the structure of the narrative was really well done. The story is told in dual timelines, so we follow Edward as he navigates reality post-crash, and then we also see the passengers on the plane during the flight. This made the truth of the crash more immediate, because we were given the chance to experience the people on the plane as characters, making their end so much more tragic. I felt that Edward was incredibly well drawn. He experiences the world at a slight remove, dealing with the trauma of the accident and also the survivor's guilt from being 'miracle boy'. The emotional maturity of Edward as a character was poignant and raw and he felt authentic in his motivations and behaviours throughout. His friendship with Shay and the burgeoning familial bonds with his aunt and uncle, were all sensitively constructed and really beautiful as a result. I also loved some of the periphery characters in Edward's life, such as the inimitable Mrs Cox and his wonderful principal, Mr Arundhi.

The Negatives: This is not a negative of the book, but one purely of the synopsis, which details things that don't happen until nearly 200 pages into the narrative. Consequently, I spent a lot of time waiting for something to happen, rather than experiencing the book as it was.

Overall, while this isn't the sort of book I usually read, I thought it was beautiful and would definitely recommend it to anyone who appreciates a well crafted and poignant coming-of-age tale.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

When Edward gets on a plane with his parents and his brother to start their relocation to a new place, amongst lots of other passengers, nobody could have fathomed that Edward would be the only one to survive the plane crash. Edward moves to live with his relatives and has to learn to grieve and focus on living in a strange place with his aunty and uncle. The young girl next door, Shay, becomes his best friend and helps Edward move on with his life.
This is a beautiful book and written so wonderfully. The story shares the history of the other passengers which was a great POV as well.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Many thanks to netgalley for allowing me to have a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

To start with, I have to confess: I have a longstanding fear of flying. This doesn’t stop me from travelling, as I know my fear is irrational and thus shouldn't be playing boss with my life and decisions... but it definitely gets in the way of full enjoyment of the flights I do take.

Hence you can maybe imagine my discomfort, sweaty hands and rapidly beating heart when I started reading this last week and realised what the subject matter was. The timing was crucial. I was about to fly last week, and returned to London yesterday.

So I read half of Dear Edward, decided to stop, in order to avoid further anxiety when flying, & returned to it today, to finish.

This is the fictional story of Edward (or Eddie, as he was known before), the sole survivor of a plane crash in the US, where (amongst all the other people), both his parents and older brother are killed. Eddie’s miraculous survival is based, from what I read, on Napolitano’s interest in a real-life 2010 plane crash, where only a 9 year old boy survived.

This is the story of the crash (what came before; what led to the plane malfunctioning; who were the people killed; the white-knuckled moments of the crash, eventually); but equally, it’s also the ‘after’ story- of Eddie, now Edward, surviving and bit by painful bit building a life.

I wouldn’t say this is literary fiction (though who can precisely define that category?) nor is it a fun read, though it’s certainly a page turner. I think it can be described as a story of hope and survival against all odds. Despite the (ultimately) life-affirming story, I felt exhausted and depleted reading this, through no fault of the author. This isn't a book for nervous flyers, but if you don't fall in that category and enjoy contemporary page turners with a good flow, you could give this a go.

This is the first book by Ann Napolitano that I have read and i will definitely be reading her others, this isn't the kind if book that I would usually choose but I'm so glad that I did. The story alternates between before and after the crash telling the back story of the passengers and also how Edward is after the event.
I would definitely recommend this.

It took me a while to get round to reading this novel.

My only regret is that I didn't read it sooner.

A beautifully touching tale about one boy, a lone survivor from an airplane crash that saw 191 people die (including Edward's family).

As I read I could feel his emotions, the confusion surrounding the event, the thoughts of why he survived yet others didn't.

It was all very honest, raw and realistic.

The story progresses at a solid pace, it wasn't about creating a dramatic tale to coincide with the initial tragic events. I felt it looked more at the complexity of human thoughts, what we're left with, the fight or flight thoughts that can overwhelm someone who is suffering.

I don't want to say it but I will because it is true. This is a coming of age story.

We see Eddie as a 12 year old boy, with one life ahead of him but as the pages of the book turn we are introduced to a gentle, forever thoughtful young man, Edward.

His transformation is inspiring to say the least.

By the time I'd reached the end of the novel I was left with a wonderful mix of peace and hope.

Dear Edward is a book that will capture your heart.

Twelve year old Eddie is on a flight with his family. The plane crashes into a field in Colorado killing 191 passengers and crew. Eddie was the sole survivor. He's now living with an aunt and uncle. He's trying to cope with survivors guilt that engulfs him.

This book is loosely based on a true story. Then chapters alternate between before and after the crash. When Edward I'd taken in by his aunt and uncle, his life story begins to unfold. What a beautiful story this is. Edward's attempts to come to terms with his loss was overwhelming for everyone (including the reader). I liked Shay, the girl who now lived next door to. She gave him strength through some of his toughest times. This is an emotional roller coaster read. I do recommend this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Books (UK) and the author Ann Napolitano for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Poignant study in grief, beautifully and touchingly told.

Set over the course of several years, this charts the adolescence of Edward Adler, after the tragic plane crash in which he loses his parents and beloved older brother, and must live on with relatives.

Nobody reading this could fail to be moved by the author's style, as the boy moves through initial shock and injury, then numbness as he begins a new life with his aunt and uncle, with a neighbour his own age someone he latches on to for support and succour.

The gradual inclusion of short moments from the day of the crash added a huge amount of emotion to the story, as we see the passengers in the hours before their crash, see them as characters in their own right that will never be allowed to fulfil their own promise and stories.

The author gracefully allows more than just Edward the chance to show grief, to show personality and emotion, Shay in particular is a strong presence as his neighbour and friend. Their relationship is complicated yet very very simple.

With Edward a focus for a grieving world, the idea of one boy being so much the centre of attention and adulation is both terrifying and uplifting, and the effects of this on him and the plot are rather wonderfully drawn out.

I was lifted up by this book, the grace of the more tragic moments gratified and wooed me. The love of Edward for his older brother Jordan was touching, and the treatment of the crash was sensitively handled.

A difficult subject but controlled with care and love.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

Thought this book had a brilliant start and held my interest well for most of the first half The rest of the story just seemed to drag and almost seemed as if a different writer had taken over. It may be a success with a ya audience though so would still recommend it for that group.

What must it be like to lose everyone you love but you survive .Edward is the sole survivor of an air crash and this story is how he learns to feel again, to live again! Alternating chapters from the day of the crash and the passengers on board to Edward and the present day . This is a tale of loss and survival .

I really enjoyed this book to start with, the concept had me hooked but unfortunately halfway through I lost interest somewhat. The plot was great and I loved the characters but the back and forth leading up to the plane crash just didn't grab me enough to keep me engaged.