Author an excellent new voice for readers
Dear Edward By Ann Napolitano, Penguin Books, $37 .. .. .. .. .. ..
In today’s world it’s not difficult to imagine a fully laden aircraft plummeting to earth. Sadly it happens with great regularity. One summer morning a flight takes off from New York heading for Los Angeles.
Among the 191 passengers on board is a young woman taking a pregnancy test in the aeroplane’s toilet, a frisky Wall St millionaire flirting with a hostess, an injured soldier on his way home from Afghanistan, and two stressed parents making the move to a new life across country with their young sons.
The plane crashes suddenly into a field in Colorado. The younger son, 12-year-old Edwards Adler, is the sole survivor of the catastrophe. In Dear Edward we track the life of Edward as he slowly recovers from his injuries and the impact his loss has on his mental state. As the sole survivor he is also suddenly famous and he has to find his way in this new world, without his family, with his childless uncle and auntie.
Ann Napolitano has written Dear Edward in an inclusive and empathic way, not afraid to tackle the Edward’s difficulties head on. His unlikely friendship with the girl next door, the letters his uncle has hidden, letters from the families of the dead passengers, his scholastic development and developing as a young man. Ann Napolitano is an excellent new voice.
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