Best-selling author Jodi Picoult tells Apple Books that her new novel was born out of her anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic. “I was trying to make sense of losing a year of my life. At first I didn’t know how to tell this story, but when I learned about a Japanese tourist who’d been stuck in Machu Picchu for months when the site shut down, it began to come together for me. I tried to funnel my own fears and questions about the future into a character instead.” Wish You Were Here is the story of Diana, a young, career-minded art dealer who has a lot of very serious plans with her doctor boyfriend, Finn. But when the pandemic hits, Finn is unable to go on a planned vacation in the Galápagos Islands—leaving Diana to take the trip alone. Picoult’s vivid prose puts us right inside Diana’s head, making us feel every emotional turn of her story, from liberating realizations to terrifying twists. Wish You Were Here is a powerful, heartfelt novel about a monumental time that’s affected us all.
