A couple of years ago, my daughter—a recently graduated English major with an impeccable track record for book recommendations—suggested that I read Dear Edward. It took me a while to make it happen, but while we traveled together last holiday season, she glanced over mid-flight and was startled to see me reading her recommended novel about a plane crash while we were navigating multiple legs of our own air travel. I understood her concern. I even surprised myself by becoming so absorbed in Ann Napolitano’s captivating story of a flight from Newark to Los Angeles gone tragically wrong. And yet, the book turned out to be an unexpectedly comforting companion up in the air.

As so many of us prepare for holiday travel—a season when airports are crowded, flights are packed, and stress can spike—it feels like the right moment to revisit this beautiful novel that manages to hold both the vulnerability and the wonder of flying.

Dear Edward toggles between two narratives. One follows a fictional morning flight from Newark to LA, filled with 183 passengers and an unforgettable assortment of characters: an ailing billionaire, a tongue-pierced

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