Description
Product description
Review
About the Author
From the Publisher
Best friends and sisters, the four Padvano girls are thought of as inseparable by everyone in their close-knit Chicago neighbourhood. Julia, the eldest, is a planner. Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book and imagines a life for herself other than the expected path of wife and mother. Cecelia and Emmeline, the twins, are the artist and the caregiver. From childhood, the four sisters complete each other. But when Julia falls in love with William Walters, their lives change. As William falls into darkness, it is Sylvie, not Julie, who steps in to help.
Spanning decades and generations, HELLO BEAUTIFUL captures what it means to be a family — the joy and tragedy, the deep trust and devastating betrayals. Split apart by stubbornness and heartbreak, the Padavano family scatters across the country. Will the love and loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together?
Amazon Customer –
Loved the message that forgiveness is the key to many of life’s complexity. Family love laughter sadness personal struggles acceptance all represented beautifully
Interesting story but so many holes in the various pots. My book club agreed it was well written but skipped important information about characters and events, which made it feel unfinished. It was easy to read but otherwise kind of meh overall. –
It was an easy read and interesting but left out key plot and character information. The stories were interesting and well-written, however it lacked believability due to omitting key character development or simply ignoring traits and people introduced then disappeared. Disappointing as “Dear Edward” was a great novel.
SunshineHellen –
This was such an unexpected treasure of a book . I had all the feels . William will stay with me for some time .
Don –
Loved this! Really well written and a remarkable story
PattyMacDotComma –
3.5~3★“He hesitated, and Julia thought, This is difficult for him because he doesn’t have the answer. He lacks answers. A shiver of pleasure climbed her spine. Julia specialized in answers. From the time she was old enough to speak, she’d bossed her sisters around, pointing out their problems and providing solutions.”Yes, that’s Julia, the eldest of four sisters, the boss, the one for whom her father predicted great success – his “rocket”. Sylvia, the next one closest in age, looks very much like Julia but is more bookish. As a teen, she likes kissing the boys, with a 90-second limit, in the library where she works – just practising, she says, for when she finally falls hard for her one true love.The twins, Emeline and Cecelia, are younger by a few years. Julia had told the others about the novel “Little Women”, and they used to argue about which sister each of them matched.They decided Julia and Sylvia were both sort of Jo, Julia passionate and independent while Sylvia had the literary bug. The twins bounced back and forth between Meg and Amy, but it was the ill-fated Beth whom they referred to when they were having a bad day.“ ‘One of us will be the first to die,’ they would take turns telling one another, and all four girls shuddered at the thought.”William Waters is a tall, sandy-haired basketball player Julia meets at college, and he is nearly overwhelmed when he sees the sisters for the first time, after a game.“After the game—the Wildcats won, and William had played his best minutes of the early season—he climbed into the bleachers to see Julia. Only when he got closer did he see that she was seated with three girls who resembled her. They all had the same boisterous shoulder-length curls. ‘These are my sisters,’ Julia said. ‘I brought them to scout you. That’s basketball language, right?’”These lively, shorter young women with the dark curly hair become his adopted family. His own parents had ignored him, such that he might as well have been an orphan.These are the main characters, they and the girls’ parents, friends, and classmates. The book takes them from school age to middle age, from 1960 to 2008, with all the jubilation and tragedy we are led to expect from the publicity.Although parts of it are moving, it didn’t engage me much with any of the individuals. I couldn’t figure out what was missing until suddenly, halfway through, I realised that I felt I was being told a story but wasn’t really being shown who anyone was. It was more like a summary (albeit a very long, sometimes repetitive one) of the events of those years.We are told, often, that their mother, Rose, is prickly, but that their sense of self-worth and confidence comes from their father, Charlie.“Charlie had seen and loved each of them for who they were. When any of his girls—including Rose—had come into view, he’d always given them the same welcome, calling out, ‘Hello beautiful!’ The greeting was nice enough to make them want to leave the room and come in all over again.”I like that each chapter begins with a character’s name and the time period it covers, so we know whose point of view we’re seeing. I just didn’t connect with anyone enough to care. I may be alone in feeling this book was telling, not showing, or perhaps I’m describing my reaction badly.It is a good story, and I was interested enough to read to the end. There well be many fans for this one, so be sure to read other reviews. 😊