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OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLD WIDE
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND 100th OPRAH WINFREY BOOK CLUB PICK
‘Radiant and brilliantly crafted’ New York Times

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Best friends and sisters, the four Padavano girls bring loving chaos to their close-knit Italian American neighbourhood. William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So, when he meets the spirited and ambitious Julia Padavano, it’s as if the world has lit up around him.

With Julia comes her family: Sylvie, the family’s dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book; Cecelia is a free-spirited artist; and Emeline patiently takes care of them all. But when darkness from William’s past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who becomes his closest confidante. The result is a catastrophic rift that leaves the family inhabiting two sides of a fault line.

Can they find their way back to each other? Can love make a broken family whole?
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‘Beautiful, perceptive, wistful. I loved it’
Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace

‘Ann Napolitano’s writing is astonishing’
Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups

‘Another tender tearjerker… She helps us see ourselves – and each other – whole’
Washington Post

‘Napolitano’s homage to Little Women, set in late-20th century Chicago, will prompt you to slow down as you read, never wanting the book to end’
Oprah Quarterly

‘A moving, tender family epic’ Pandora Sykes

Instant New York Times bestseller, July 2023
100th Oprah Winfrey Book Club pick, March 2023
Longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, 2024

Publisher Review

Napolitano’s prose is so lovely, so keenly perceptive, that it held me captive until I finished — Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes Radiant and brilliantly crafted * New York Times * Beautiful, perceptive, wistful. I loved it — Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace Ann Napolitano’s writing is astonishing — Marian Keyes, author of Grown Ups