--- description: Find out why "Hello Beautiful" by Ann Napolitano is on TIME's list of the must-read books of the year. title: 'Hello Beautiful' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt741936f33f80c06c/698a41fb09208f288b41ae60/HelloBeautiful.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 14, 2023 # Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Ann Napolitano is perhaps best known for [_Dear Edward_](https://time.com/6251342/dear-edward-review-apple/ "undefined"), a best seller but the sort of tearjerker that might scare away some readers. And while there are tragic aspects to her new novel—the book begins “For the first six days of William Waters’s life, he was not an only child,” presaging a loss that will define the character’s life—the tender narrative is at its best when it’s exploring the strength of familial bonds. William, shunned by grieving parents, finds salvation in basketball and particularly the structure of a team. He falls in with another family when he becomes romantically entangled with Julia and, by extension, her three sisters. The four girls bicker about which March sibling each would be in _Little Women_. _Hello Beautiful_ achieves a similar alchemy to that classic novel as it builds up those sisterly relationships and then pushes them to the brink while simultaneously weaving in William’s own compelling story of growth. —_Eliana Dockterman_ **Buy Now:** _Hello Beautiful_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780593243732 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/49ogn1i "undefined") --- **Looking for more book recommendations? Sign up for** [**_Worth Your Time_**](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=worth-your-time "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6331010/hello-beautiful/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6331010/hello-beautiful/"},"headline":"Hello Beautiful","datePublished":"2023-11-14T12:30:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:24:59.477Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6331010/hello-beautiful/","keywords":["Books","list","best books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt741936f33f80c06c/698a41fb09208f288b41ae60/HelloBeautiful.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt741936f33f80c06c/698a41fb09208f288b41ae60/HelloBeautiful.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6331010/hello-beautiful/","name":"Hello Beautiful"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME's 100 Must-Read Books of 2023","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WppeqCEz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-11-13T19:20:52.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WppeqCEz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6331010/hello-beautiful/","duration":"PT1M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2023/6331010/hello-beautiful/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```