WARNING: this book does discuss the pandemic, COVID-19, and if those topics are something you want to stay away from, then I wouldn’t recommend this book! But if you are looking for a read that discusses the time we’ve lived through, then this is a story I’d say you should keep an eye out for!

This was an interesting read with a great premise!

Art specialist Diana is about to fly to the Galapagos with her surgeon boyfriend, Finn, when the pandemic strikes New York. Persuaded to go on her own, she is then stranded on one of the islands and unable to get home.

Not everything is as it seems, however...

This was a complicated story, weaving together a narrative of love, separation, ambition, fear, resilience, family relationships, and how much we think we know the people closest to us.

It took a little while to get going with the story. I became more invested in the book after the mid-point when the author dropped in a curveball that completely changed the direction of travel. It made no sense and then complete sense. After that, I whizzed through the rest of the book.

The story is poignant but ultimately life-affirming. The struggles of those on both sides - patients and frontline medical staff - dealing with Covid and its aftermath are eloquently voiced, but it is only one strand of the narrative.

Jodi Picoult isn't an author I had read before, but will definitely look for more of her books from now on.

I was sent an advance review copy of this book by Hodder & Stoughton, in return for an honest appraisal.

Jodi Picoult has done it again. She is always fantastic with what she writes and I find it so difficult to predict which side you will be on in any of her stories. She is fast becoming one of my go to auto buy favourite authors and this book attests to that. I loved it! So well written!

Breathtaking, a little overwhelming at times, and very thought-provoking.

Books about Covid don't really appeal to me, honestly it was enough just living through the pandemic, and I know how lucky I was that neither I or my family got sick. That is a very privileged viewpoint, but living with the virus terrified me at times with the uncertainty of it all. So reading about it....nah. Unless of course Jodi Piccoult wrote the book, and (view spoiler) Then yes, count me in.

I adored it. The characters wowed me. The juxtaposition between the tranquil Galapagos Islands and an anxiety-ridden New York during Covid was jarring. But extremely effective at keeping me tearing through the pages with my heart pounding.

Fab characters, fab settings, and ultimately a very satisfying read. I couldn't put it down. Well done Jodi, yet again you've penned a book that makes me question my own life, and reflect on fate and timing.

Highly recommended.

Good for people who like: realistic fiction, beautiful island settings, changing perspectives.

Wish You Were Here is realistic fiction at its best. The characters are authentic, their relationships complicated and delightfully engaging, and the settings richly realistic. While the premise on its own is intriguing - two people and their relationship tested during the pandemic, and isolated from one another by choice - this book blew me away and was so much more than expected.

Diana’s life is exactly how she’d planned it. She’s successful in her dream career as an art specialist in New York, and is convinced that her boyfriend Finn will propose to her on their romantic trip to the Galapagos. But COVID-19 hits and turns her plans upside down. Pushed into a last minute decision, she flies to the remote safety of a tropical island without Finn, who as a surgeon must face the effects of the virus in a hospital struggling under the strain. As soon as Diana arrives, all transport in and out of the island stops. She is stranded there.

This book captures the horror and uncertainty of the early days of the pandemic, and what front line medical staff and severely affected patients were faced with. When Diana jets off to paradise, the contrast to New York is huge, and with limited communication from the outside world it provides a dose of escapism. The island setting is vivid and beautiful, and Diana’s relationships with the people she meets there were a joy to read. It’s disconcerting every time a communication from the outside world reaches her with news of a city in chaos. This is so much a book of two halves. Both brilliant for different reasons, both a completely different reading experience.

As Finn is a doctor in a major New York hospital, there are some very real descriptions of the effects COVID-19 has on patients, and those who treat them. It is harrowing at times, and frustrating knowing what we do now and looking back at the early days of the pandemic as it unfolds.

While a book set during the pandemic might sound too immediate, Jodi Picoult has crafted something that embodies a terrifying time, while beautifully capturing the emotional and personal journey of Diana and Finn. This book is completely unexpected with its twists and turns in the best possible way. As harrowing and realistic as it is at times, which might be too close to the event for some people, the strength of human resilience and bravery of those working to care for the sick infuse these pages. An incredible and powerful read.

This book was reviewed by Cathy.

With thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Shelves: General Fiction (Adult); November 2021

This wasn't my favourite book by Jodi Picoult, but I still enjoyed it. She knows how to write a gripping story about such tough and sensitive subject matter. As always, I was pulled into the story and was gripped from start to finish. The characters were real and relatable and seemed to take on a life of their own.

It was impossible to know which direction the story would head in and I loved that because I never knew what was coming next. We twisted and turned until the very end and it was impossible to put down. Brilliant!

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a chance to read and review this book!

I actually really loved this novel and finished it in a day. Diana is about to land a dream deal at work before heading off to the Galapagos Islands with her doctor boyfriend Finn when Covid strikes. Realising he will not be able to leave work, Finn tells Diana to take the holiday and she is then stranded without any way back as the world basically goes into lockdown for months. With little way to contact Finn and her hotel being closed, a local family take her in and she spends non curfew hours exploring the island and forming relationships with the family she is staying with, including the slightly rude Gabriel. Just when I thought I had the plot figured out, there was a massive curveball thrown into the mix (will not give it away) that has Diana questioning everything.
Brilliant.

There's an early sign that this is not up to the author's usual high quality writing: A character of Japanese ethnicity was married to an English musician who was shot dead. Too obviously inspired by Yoko Ono and John Lennon. This is lazy writing, and even secondary characters don't deserve that. I like Kitomi, but still... I expect more from Jodi Picoult.

It's not a spoiler to say that this novel was inspired by, written, and published during the Covid-19 pandemic. The real life event plays a pretty major part of the story, and is mentioned in all the summaries and promo material: an American tourist is stranded in the Galápagos Islands during the pandemic.

There's a twist, however. And the twist just happens to be one of the laziest plot devices that you'd yell at if writers resorted to it in a TV show or film:

IT WAS ALL JUST A DREAM.

The pandemic is very much still real in the book. But Diana O'Toole is NOT on the island of Isabela - she's in the USA the entire time. She never went on the holiday, never met the people she thought she'd met, never did the things she'd thought she'd done there. IT WAS ALL JUST A DREAM.

*headdesk*

The author explains interviewing people who were Covid patients on ventilators. She was fascinated by their lucid dreams that seemed more real than their actual lives. I get that. I don't doubt their experiences. I trust the author's research. And yes, it's an interesting phenomenon that would be perfectly explored...in non-fiction. Not here. Just because something happens in real life, that doesn't make it the right choice for a novel. Because even the skilled brain of Jodi Picoult cannot twist a lazy plot device like IT WAS ALL JUST A DREAM into something not worthy of an eye-roll.

Sure, there's interesting exploration of the whole experience that sparks Diana into changing her life. This aspect of the novel is fine, and could have happened in any kind of story.

Is this novel another tearjerker by the author? Admittedly, yes on my behalf. But that may depend on your personal experience in an ICU and/or hospital. I was hospitalised for a week in 2019, including four nights in the ICU. I didn't cry for the characters - I cried for ME.

This book is especially disappointing considering that recently I read the author's LARGER THAN LIFE, a five-star novella. I'm pretty sure I've rated most of the author's novels at least four stars. I'll happily continue to read her solo fiction. (Not interested in her co-written fiction at this stage.) But this is not the book to hook readers new to the author.

I love Jodi Picoult , she writes a story with heart and always has a controversial subject that doesn’t always end the way you want but does leave you thinking and this book is the same. Set during the pandemic it’s a poignant story about love and discovery of where Diane the main character wants her life to go.
A clever and heartfelt story.

My review is short and sweet. I don’t read the synopsis of a novel when it is written by one of my favourite authors, nor do I check out reviews. For me, and my vivid imagination, the best way is to just let the book unwind.

Wish You Were Here starts in New York and is a mixture of excitement and a little dread. Dread because Jodi Picoult describes the early days of the Pandemic in much detail (trigger alert) and excitement (for me) as I loved her character Diane, and Jodi’s description of Diane’s job in the art world and her portrayal of the amazing Galapagos Island where Diane and Finn, her surgeon boyfriend, were meant to travel to before the arrival of Covid-19.

I really recommend Wish You Were Here and give it 5 stars. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley - this is an honest review

All the books I reviewed last year, even if the story was said to be set in 2020, I refused to accept it to be so unless there was a passing reference to the lockdowns. There were probably only one or two that even made a mild reference to it.
I did not realise, however, how strange it would be to actually read about a fictional tale set in the midst of the actual pandemic.
By the time I picked this book up, like many others, I had forgotten what the blurb had said about it. It opens in the initial stages of the pandemic, where people in New York were still unsure that it was a real thing (by this point in the year, we had already lived three months of a lockdown in HK, and this felt surreal, to say the least!)
I will not say much more about the narrative than say that it's about Diane, looking forward to a promotion and a holiday ending up with an experience she never expected. I know that I, like many others, read fiction to get away, but the setting is still important. When I read about people talking about it being 2020 without the confusion that had everyone across the globe in a collective dilemma, I am almost offended! (although I do understand how hard it might have been for authors to deal with this disruption in their predecided books). Diane and her gradual understanding of the situation, the place where she finds her life, was done well. I read it in nearly two settings.
I would not recommend it to anyone triggered by the events of and recollecting the past two years' events. I admit that the ending (or almost ending/last quarter) was entirely out of the blue. I did not see it coming, nor did I imagine how the author then used the content to present the rest of the story. The author substantiated her story with facts that led her to write in such a manner, and that was fascinating reading in itself.
I know I am being vague about Diane's experiences and the holiday or even all the other characters that feature in the book. That is done on purpose because the buildup and the twists are better experienced with fresh eyes.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

I’ve read many Jodi Picoult books and I think most if not all tackle either a controversial or sensitive topic (sometimes both). I’ll never forget reading My Sisters Keeper!

This, her newest book, is based during the Covid19 pandemic. There is love, loss, jealousy, emotional resilience, fear, confusion and sheer isolation. A very raw fictional account which was very thought provoking.

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult is a powerful contemporary novel opening in March 2020 and moving forwards as the world dealt with the COVID pandemic.
Jodi Picoult focuses in on a couple, who are a microcosm for the experiences of many. Living in New York City, a doctor finds all of his leave cancelled as he faces the COVID outbreak in the hospital. We witness his life of PPE, hard work, impossible situations and sadness.
In contrast we see his partner, an art expert, trapped in the beauty and tranquility of the Galapagos Islands. But paradise can soon become a prison when you are trapped there with no flights in or out. “When you’re stuck in heaven, it can feel like hell.” We see the kindness and compassion of a local community.
The hospital is in contrast to the islands. Here it is hell on earth as bodies pile up and COVID takes hold. The experiences traumatise both staff and the patients who do recover. Survivors search for answers, trying to make sense of experiences that cannot be explained.
Families are important. Sometimes members are misunderstood as we witness sacrificial love in action.
The characters are well drawn and easy to empathise with.
Jodi Picoult has written an incredibly powerful novel. As with many of her books, I experienced a jaw-dropping moment. I always love Jodi Picoult’s novels. She is one of my (many) favourite authors.
I received a free copy via Net Galley. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

Reading this book reminds me just how much has happened over the past two years as it plunged me straight back into those early, terrifying days of the pandemic when life was dystopian, and strange, and anything could and did happen. Picoult's storytelling swept me along, so the twist, when it came completely blindsided me. This is a pandemic novel, but on another level it's a novel about choices, and paths, and living your own life and I enjoyed it immensely.

As a lover of nearly all Jodi Picoult’s books I will be honest and say I was looking forward to this, while it wasn’t one of her best I appreciate this was a hard subject to write about, especially while living in the situation and the aftermath
Diana and her boyfriend Finn have their lives planned out and are looking forward to the holiday of a lifetime on the Galápagos Islands where Finn is all set to propose, however this is the start of the worldwide pandemic and their plans are massively derailed.
Finn an Emergency Room Registrar is now unable to take time off as planned but encourages Diana to travel alone. Full of trepidation she sets off as planned but when she arrives on the Island of Isabella she is told it is Closed and the hotel she is booked into has shut. She finds herself alone and unable to speak the language, with no where to stay and no way off the island. Luckily for her a kind elderly hotel worker offers her a place to stay.
Diana spends the next few weeks aimlessly wandering around, maiming friends with several locals and trying to entertain herself until she can return home to Finn. Weeks turn into months and with no way to contact Finn except for postcards she writes in the hope they will reach him and sporadic emails which arrive from Finn in the hit and miss of the island Wi-Fi, she begins to question their plans and what she really wants from life.
This is a bit of a slow goer, but then so we’re the 1st few months of life in Lockdown so that is understandable.
Over halfway through the book there is a change of direction and this changes the whole book entirely.
I can’t say too much without giving it away but I think Jodi did a good job and although I was slightly disappointed with the ending itself I enjoyed reading this title

Absolutely not what I was expecting, this story is the first I have read that refers to COVID 19 and this is a refreshing story about the fear that we felt at the start of 2020.
Diana has everything she thinks she needs when the pandemic strikes, just a holiday which has been planned for years. Her partner Finn is a doctor and so cannot go with her on a dream trip to the Galapagos.
But this is not the right time to be travelling internationally and Diana is trapped.
Gaining friends and learning more about herself Diana realises that her life is perhaps not that perfect.
But all is not as it seems.....

I loved this book, taking the backdrop of covid world and creating a story you can imagine and visualise. Absolutely loved it!

Wish You Were Here is a fascinating, unique and honest novel focused on the covid pandemic. It displays stark truths about the situation we all found (find) ourselves in.

Diana is an interesting character and one that I took a little bit of time to warm to. When that happened though, I was very quickly immersed into her world and became part of her journey.

I found it interesting to see the viewpoint and navigation of a somewhat stranded female character. One who is outside of her comfort zone and attacking (limited) opportunities. The growth in Diana’s character was wonderful to ‘watch’ as the novel progressed. The details about her parents, family and wider circle only add to this. Her feelings towards her Mother are strong and the love for Finn and their life is real, although ultimately changed by her experiences.

It was certainly interesting to read fiction based on the pandemic, one of the few that I have read thus far. It definitely transports me back to a time when things were different, although as covid is still very much a presence in our lives it’s a reminder of how real the virus is. The fear and emotions are so realistically played out. There are definitely elements of the novel which are quite tough to read. I found it a really stark reminder of how fickle life is, how we shouldn’t take any aspect of it for granted, and although set it in America, it made me appreciate the NHS staff and their sacrifices all over again.

I found all the information and details regarding the art world and Diana’s job fascinating. I definitely learnt an awful lot about selling art, catalogues and Sotheby’s. You can really understand the energy surrounding selling paintings and the buzz which the sellers and team get from securing sales, especially for highly acclaimed pieces.

Jodi Picoult writes beautifully and this book is no different. The descriptions and her way with words is really captivating and I was thoroughly engrossed. To say I was shocked by the books unexpected ‘twist’ is an understatement! I found it heavily thought provoking. I don’t want to say too much, but I definitely didn’t see it coming.

I’m literally lost for words on how to review this book. Some parts were so powerful they took my breath away. This story had one of the biggest plot twists I have ever encountered. A plot twist so intense it made me cry. You get drawn into the complex story, you fall in love with the characters and then the twist and you feel like you have been hit by a truck. The loss is so great.
This story takes you through covid times and how the virus can alter your whole world and change every aspect of your life. Joy, sadness and heartache all compete in this story. Wonderfully written.

Jodi Picoult is so amazing when she brought out a twist right in the middle of the prose where a couple separated by the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown went through different horrifying experiences.
Some sections dragged for me, but luckily I could read through them faster to get to the parts that made me extremely emotional.
Overall, you had to read it to understand the cryptic review.