Dawn thinks she knows everything there is to know about dying. As a death doula she helps her clients fix what is left undone so they can peacefully make the final transition. But when her plane plummets from the sky and she thinks she is experiencing the last moments of her life, she is shocked to find that she isn’t thinking of her husband or teenage daughter – but of a road she strayed from 15 years earlier, when she turned her back on her PhD studies.
Against all odds, Dawn survives, and the airline gives her a free ticket to wherever she needs to get to. in alternating chapters, we see possible choices: Land – returning to her husband, a quantum physicist who studies the possibilities of parallel universes, she is faced with a test to her marriage and a daughter who is struggling with self-image issues. And Water: returning to her studies and the archaeological site she worked on 15 years earlier, where the man she abandoned is about to make the discovery of a lifetime.
But time may not be as straightforward as we think. As Dawn explores her possible futures, she is finding out what a well-lived life means, what we leave behind of ourselves when we leave the earth, and who she might have been…
(P) 2020 Penguin Random House Audio
Against all odds, Dawn survives, and the airline gives her a free ticket to wherever she needs to get to. in alternating chapters, we see possible choices: Land – returning to her husband, a quantum physicist who studies the possibilities of parallel universes, she is faced with a test to her marriage and a daughter who is struggling with self-image issues. And Water: returning to her studies and the archaeological site she worked on 15 years earlier, where the man she abandoned is about to make the discovery of a lifetime.
But time may not be as straightforward as we think. As Dawn explores her possible futures, she is finding out what a well-lived life means, what we leave behind of ourselves when we leave the earth, and who she might have been…
(P) 2020 Penguin Random House Audio
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Reviews
A writer the world should be reading right now
It is hard to exaggerate how well Picoult writes
A thrilling adventure ... one that will lead readers to both learn a lot and also ask themselves key questions about how to create happy lives for themselves
Similar to Alice Hoffman's depiction of complex family ties, Picoult's latest stretches the importance of recognizing our bonds to those we love. Highly recommended for open-minded readers.
The Book of Two Ways is a return for Picoult to the themes of her earliest books -motherhood, complicated romantic love . . . Picoult, at this point in her career, could skilfully build tension in a broom closet, but the best part of this book is not the suspense; it's the look at the complexity of a woman as she enters middle age . . . [Picoult] always tells both sides of a story not with judgment, but with grace.
Picoult's fans will appreciate this multifaceted, high concept work.
Picoult's fans will be more than ready for this puzzle of a novel . . .[they] will find heady themes to consider.
Powerful and compelling
The pull of the well-drawn characters and powerful themes of regret and love make this head-spinning story a compelling read
This brilliant Sliding Doors-style novel will really get you thinking
A consummate storyteller
You're sure to be moved by the questions it poses about the meaning of life and death. Food for thought in these current crazy times
This complex, time-shifting romance combines moral hazard with Wuthering Heights echoes and degree-level Egyptology. And there aren't many books you can say that about.
If you've ever wondered if you could have lived another life, you'll like this
A wise, cerebral, propulsive adventure . . . It eruditely spans the worlds of Egyptology, university physics and end-of-life care, while never losing sight of its high-stakes human story... a captivatingly immersive, multilayered, painstakingly researched and impressively realised exploration of deeply human geographies
Literary powerhouse Jodi Picoult writes novels that make you think and her latest is no exception
Riveting
Ambitious
Picoult's writing is insightful and richly descriptive
A stunning Sliding Doors-style novel about life, death, and missed opportunities