When You Read This A Novel
When You Read This, a novel by Mary Adkins, is an illustrated edition published by HarperCollins on February 5, 2019. This 384-page book presents a comedy-drama set in the digital age, focusing on the complex ties of friendship and loss. The story revolves around Smith Simonyi, who, after the death of his colleague Iris Massey, discovers her blog filled with reflections on life and mortality. Tasked with fulfilling her last wish to publish her posts, Smith navigates his grief while also seeking the approval of Iris’s sister, Jade.
Readers will find a narrative told through various modern communication forms, including emails, blog posts, and text messages, which captures the essence of contemporary life. As Smith and Jade confront their unresolved issues and the impact of Iris’s absence, the novel explores themes of family life and personal growth. This engaging story delves into how individuals cope with loss and seek new beginnings, making it a poignant addition to the literary fiction genre.
Official synopsis Publisher
“Fans of Where’d You Go, Bernadette will love this. . . a bittersweet, often funny novel about hope, memory, and loose ends.”
-Real Simple, “The Best Books of 2019 (So Far)”
A comedy-drama for the digital age: an epistolary debut novel about the ties that bind and break our hearts, for fans of Maria Semple and Rainbow Rowell.
Iris Massey is gone.
But she’s left something behind.
For four years, Iris Massey worked side by side with PR maven Smith Simonyi, helping clients perfect their brands. But Iris has died, taken by terminal illness at only thirty-three. Adrift without his friend and colleague, Smith is surprised to discover that in her last six months, Iris created a blog filled with sharp and often funny musings on the end of a life not quite fulfilled. She also made one final request: for Smith to get her posts published as a book. With the help of his charmingly eager, if overbearingly forthright, new intern Carl, Smith tackles the task of fulfilling Iris’s last wish.
Before he can do so, though, he must get the approval of Iris’ big sister Jade, an haute cuisine chef who’s been knocked sideways by her loss. Each carrying their own baggage, Smith and Jade end up on a collision course with their own unresolved pasts and with each other.
Told in a series of e-mails, blog posts, online therapy submissions, text messages, legal correspondence, home-rental bookings, and other snippets of our virtual lives, When You Read This is a deft, captivating romantic comedy—funny, tragic, surprising, and bittersweet—that candidly reveals how we find new beginnings after loss.
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