Wish You Were Here: The Sunday Times bestseller readers are raving about: a completely gripping, unputdownable novel from bestselling author of Mad Honey

Wow this is a powerful piece coming from the pandemic. It was beautifully written I enjoyed learning all about the Galapagos and how Diana's isolation created something beautiful. I wasn't prepared for part two where it swaps to the here and now and it just goes to show how scary and unnerving Covid really was. I like that Jodi explored the nature and unknownness of the unconscious mindset. I was left feeling a whole range of emotions.

I liked how the writer drew you in on the real-life feelings of the characters, drawing upon real-life experiences no doubt!!! I felt what they felt, the anxiety and tiredness of the day to day life during the pandemic. Although my life wasn't like the characters in the book, I was already practiced in Hermetry, I spend majority of the time at home pottering about, knitting and spinning my own yarn, reading, Netflixing & Chilling or cooking/baking. I chatted to family via fb/Messenger FaceTime or Zoomed. I am a member of several fb communities and we kept in touch, always will be! Family, friends and something to do keeps you grounded! For that I'm very grateful, especially since we emerged from the pandemic worst, out the other side intact! I loved this book! I thank the writer for her time and energy for writing this book.

A great story that took me in a totally different direction to what I was expecting! It read well and had great descriptions of both scenery and emotions.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns in the book. I love the way the author uses real live events and situations to build a story around. Totally believable in my opinion.

An intriguing book and topical. Enjoyable.

Loved this book

I really enjoyed the book and couldn’t put it down, I was a little disappointed with the middle of the story line as it wasn’t what I imagined. I thought she was going to fall in love, stay in the Galapagos and live happily ever after with her new man and step daughter! I thought it was going to go into detail about how she has to tell Finn she’s never coming back and he might have travelled to the Galapagos to find out what in the world was going on…. Nevertheless I still very much enjoyed the book and would deffo recommend.

‘Wish You We’re Here’ by Jodi Picoult is a novel that she hadn’t expected to write. Yet I am very pleased that she did. I found this an amazing book, though it can be hard to find the right words when a novel has had a profound effect, yet I will try.First, a word of caution: Jodi Picoult has never shied away from writing about uncomfortable subjects. This novel contains graphic accounts of people with Covid-19 as well as its wider consequences. It is a novel that I would also suggest reading ‘cold’, so only a brief summary.Friday, the 13th March 2020 and Diana O'Toole's life is going well. At the age of twenty-nine she has a job she loves as an art specialist at Sotheby's New York and has recently secured an important client; an achievement that likely will lead to a promotion. She and her boyfriend, Finn, are about to leave on vacation to the Galapagos and she suspects that while there he is going to propose. So far it could be the set up for a romance novel.Then Finn, a surgical resident at a NYC hospital, advises Diane that with the increasing cases of the new virus that the hospital needs him to stay. He insists that she should still go and reluctantly Diane agrees.However, as Diane arrives in the Galapagos the world is shutting down, including her destination, Isabela Island. She elects to stay but finds herself stranded, with only intermittent news from the outside world. While on the island she makes connections with local people as well as with nature, and begins to contemplate aspects of her life to date. No further details to avoid spoilers.As noted above, Picoult does not hold back on depicting the effects of the virus, not only on those infected but by loved ones distraught when unable to visit or say goodbye as well as the experiences of members of the medical profession. It considers the grief and loss, both personal and collective, experienced by many during the pandemic.It also portrays how people responded to quarantine, lockdown and restrictions: baking, box sets, boredom, learning to Zoom, and the like. It brought back vivid memories of those early days of the pandemic when uncertainty was high.I was blown away by this novel on many levels. Given that Diane is sharing her story in the first person, though with additional material, it is an personal account.There was its central story though I was also drawn by details of the exclusive art world in which Diane works; an appreciation of the natural world and, given the location of the Galapagos, musings on Darwin’s theory of evolution. Spirituality and the sense of purpose also plays an important part in the narrative though in a subtle way. Perhaps most importantly is the journey that we all face in coming to terms with death.I appreciated Jodi Picoult’s Author’s Note in which she details the intense research that she undertook in order to portray experiences by inviting survivors to share their accounts.I also expect that ‘Wish You Were Here’ will prove popular with reading groups as it offers a great deal of scope for discussion alongside a good read.Despite a theme that appears dark, there is still hope interwoven throughout. As one character says to Diane: “we are in uncharted territory…The future is completely up in the air.”Overall, I feel that ‘Wish You Were Here’ is an important novel. A novel with heart that is complex and multilayered, yet accessible. It has also given me new perspectives to consider.Very highly recommended.