Hello Beautiful

Hello Beautiful is a sweeping, intimate family story set in Chicago and New York that begins when William Waters, a reserved college basketball player haunted by childhood loss, meets Julia Padavano, the incandescent eldest of four sisters. The Padavanos—Julia, Sylvie, Cecelia, and Emeline—are a chorus of love, noise, and ambition, and they draw William into their orbit. But love, as the sisters believe it should be, tests everyone. An injury ends William’s playing days. A decision from his indifferent parents arrives like a cold slap. Julia’s grand plans and Sylvie’s quiet dreams pull against William’s private darkness. A young pregnancy, a wedding made by neighbors, a funeral that breaks the family’s center, and a lake on a summer night that nearly ends everything—all bend these characters toward the truths they’ve been avoiding.

The novel tracks the Padavano sisters as they grow up and apart, make homes and mistakes, and learn what it costs—and what it gives back—to choose each other again. It’s about the force of a great love between two people, the even larger force of a great sisterhood, and the long, painful, gorgeous work of forgiveness. If you’ve ever found yourself remade by love or family, this story will feel like home, even when it hurts.

• Listeners who love multigenerational family sagas with big feelings
• Book clubs looking for themes of mental health, forgiveness, and found family
• Fans of Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Strout, and character-driven literary fiction

Ann Napolitano is the author of Dear Edward, A Good Hard Look, and Within Arm’s Reach. She teaches writing and lives in Brooklyn. Her work is known for its compassion toward flawed characters and for exploring how ordinary lives bend under extraordinary pressures.