Wish You Were Here

I got lucky again at the library when I found a new book by one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult. Wish You Were Here is a new release. The main character is Diana who is coming up on her 30th birthday. She works at Sotheby's, an art auction and is doing well at her job. She expects her boyfriend, Finn, will propose marriage on her birthday trip. Diana and Finn are going to the Galapagos Islands. On the night before they are to leave, the Covid 19 virus hits hard in New York City where Diana and Finn live. Finn is a surgeon at a nearby hospital and is needed at work. He tells Diana to go anyway. She is angry but she does go. Her luggage is lost. As she arrives on Isabella island, the island shuts down. Her hotel is closed. No more boats are allowed to come or go. A kind employee of the hotel allows Diana to use an empty apartment and shares food with her. Diana enjoys the scenery. I enjoyed reading about the scenery because I have been there too. When Diana walks to the volcanic crater, I remember my walk to that crater. When Diana sees a pond with flamingoes, I remember seeing flamingoes. I remembered the cactus forests right on the edge of the sea and the penguins and the blue footed boobies and the magnificent frigate birds and the Sally Lightfoot crabs and the marine iguanas. Reading this book was fun because it brought back good travel memories for me and because it was well written. If you are tired of hearing about Covid 19 though, this might not be the book for you.