Wish You Were Here

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult transports readers in fluid, dreamlike prose back to March 2020, a few days before lifetimes of plans were turned upside down.

Diana O'Toole is a striving, nearly 30-year-old associate specialist at Sotheby's. She is ready for a much-needed vacation to the Galapagos Islands, where she is confident that her boyfriend, Finn, a resident at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, will propose. Everything in her life is going according to plan. But just before departure, Finn's job directs him to stay--19 cases of a novel coronavirus have been diagnosed in the city.

With Finn's encouragement, Diana travels alone to the Galapagos. The final ferry for two weeks drops her off on Isabela Island, where she finds that the hotel she'd booked is closed indefinitely. Wandering, she meets Gabriel, a farmer and former tour guide, and his daughter, Beatriz, who is struggling in isolation. She explores the island with them, learns their secrets and discovers a new life within an abundance of time. As the ferry keeps being delayed and one thing leads to another, Diana realizes getting back will not be easy and that she will not be the same when, or if, she returns.

Picoult balances a portrait of millennial New York City life with quarantine diaries from a remote beach and the front lines of an overflowing hospital. A peek into the art world and a meditation on the nature of the mind, Wish You Were Here satisfies a multitude of curiosities. --Walker Minot, teacher, freelance writer and reviewer

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