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The Book of Two Ways: The stunning bestseller about life, death and missed opportunities

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What to expect

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

Critics Review

A writer the world should be reading right now
Independent
It is hard to exaggerate how well Picoult writes
Financial Times
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
Sunday Times
Ambitious
The 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.
Daily Mail
The pull of the well-drawn characters and powerful themes of regret and love make this head-spinning story a compelling read
Sunday Mirror
Literary powerhouse Jodi Picoult writes novels that make you think and her latest is no exception
Sunday Express
This brilliant Sliding Doors-style novel will really get you thinking
Sun, Fabulous Magazine
Riveting
Hello
A consummate storyteller
Saga
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
Associated Press
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.
Library Journal, starred review
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.
Washington Post
Picoult's fans will appreciate this multifaceted, high concept work.
Publishers Weekly
Picoult's fans will be more than ready for this puzzle of a novel . . .[they] will find heady themes to consider.
Booklist
Powerful and compelling
VIP Magazine
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
Heat
If you've ever wondered if you could have lived another life, you'll like this
Sun
Picoult's writing is insightful and richly descriptive
Press Association
A stunning Sliding Doors-style novel about life, death, and missed opportunities
East Anglian Daily Times, Top 10 of 2020
Author Jodi Picoult
Narrator Patti Murin
Duration 15 hours and 48 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9781529372137
Format Audiobook
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
Genre Ancient Egyptian religion and mythology, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: Love and relationships
Availability AU, GB, IE

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