HELLO BEAUTIFUL

Hello Beautiful is Ann Napolitano’s magnificent new novel, and @oprahsbookclub ’s 100th pick, and YES I am calling it a favorite book of 2023 even though it’s only April! This sweeping family drama, based very loosely on Little Women, chronicles the lives of the four Padavano sisters of Chicago from childhood to middle age. It is also the story of college basketball player William Waters, whose lonely growing up years were marred by early tragedy - but when he is enveloped into the Padavanos’ boisterous lives as a young man, he becomes irrevocably intertwined in the family’s future. Heartbreaking, hopeful, and impossible to put down - don’t miss this gorgeous and emotional triumph.
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This book invites you into its characters’ world and doesn’t release you until the very last page. The author deftly reminds us how many flip sides exist within every milestone, emotion and experience - and we must accept them all if we are to truly live: birth and death, grief and love, bravery and loss. In Hello Beautiful, unusual height can be loneliness and at the same time, physical strength. Wild, curly hair is a connection between sisters, but also an attribute to dominate or control. Napolitano shows us that by embracing dual sides of everything, life’s darkness and light can be a path to “experiencing the world in the deepest and truest way,” much like some of the most beautifully rendered characters in this unforgettable story.
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For this book, I created a botanical focaccia using vegetables and herbs like the ones in matriarch Rose Padavano’s garden. I’ve always wanted to try to make a bread like this one, and the garden in Hello Beautiful was the perfect inspiration. Making this focaccia coincided with a visit from my own mom, and since this book is in part about deep family bonds between women, it felt extra special to share this culinary adventure with her. Thank you, Mom - I am so grateful to be a part of the garden you tend every day.