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Viking has scooped a “gorgeous, life-affirming" novel exploring the limits of familial and romantic love by Ann Napolitano.
Isabel Wall, editorial director, acquired UK and commonwealth rights to Hello Beautiful from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein on behalf of Julie Barer at The Book Group. US rights sold to Whitney Frick at Dial Press. It will publish on 13th July 2023.
Viking published Napolitano’s previous novel, Dear Edward, in February 2020. It sold in 27 territories, and is being turned into an Apple TV series, due to air in 2023.
Hello Beautiful follows the four Padavano sisters. They are seen as inseparable by everyone in their close-knit Italian-American neighbourhood. Julia, the eldest, is the "rocket" of the family – she always has a destination in mind and clear plans for how to get there. Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book, dreaming of the kind of love you only read about in literature. Cecelia and Emmeline, the twins, are the artist and the caregiver. From childhood, the four sisters complete each other. Then Julia falls in love with William Waters, a history student and college sports star. She’s delighted by the way her plans for adulthood are coming to fruition; but when darkness from William’s past begins to block the light of his future, it is Sylvie, not Julia, who becomes his closest confidante – and the ensuing betrayal tears the sisters apart.
Wall said: “I was blown away by Hello Beautiful, a rich, moving, big-hearted tale of four sisters and the love affair that fractures their family. It’s Little Women for the modern age – and will appeal to fans of emotional, voice-driven family narratives like Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House (Bloomsbury), Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half (Dialogue) and Miranda Cowley Heller’s The Paper Palace (Viking). Ann Napolitano writes with rare warmth and compassion and I am immensely proud to publish her at Viking."
Napolitano added: “I’m proud and thrilled that Hello Beautiful will be published by Isabel Wall and Viking. I hope that UK readers will enjoy my homage to the four sisters and complicated love of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.”