Wish You Were Here
by Jodi Picoult

Recommended by Sarah Beth
Classified Adult Fiction

“Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s an associate specialist at Sotheby’s now, but her boss has hinted at a promotion if she can close a deal with a high-profile client. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.

But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes.

Almost immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. Her luggage is lost, the Wi-Fi is nearly nonexistent, and the hotel they’d booked is shut down due to the pandemic. In fact, the whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to Diana, despite her father’s suspicion of outsiders.

In the Galápagos Islands, where Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was formed, Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different.” – Amazon.com Preview

Why Sarah Beth recommends:

“We all remember the beginning of the pandemic, right? People were staying home, baking bread, and generally going out of their minds with cabin fever. For me, this feels like a lifetime ago. The library shut down for nearly a month and I was so antsy to get back, I could barely stand it. This book takes us back to that time, when little was known about Covid-19 and the world existed in limbo. I can’t say too much about the plot without giving away some really exciting twists, but you really feel like you’re in the Galapagos with Diana- swimming with sea turtles and standing on inactive volcanoes. This book manages to contain both the exotic feeling of being on vacation as well as the claustrophobic, hemmed-in feeling of being in quarantine. If you like books that keep you guessing, give this one a try!”