The Book of Two Ways

Prologue

My calendar is full of dead people. 

When my phone alarm chimes, I fish it out from the pocket of my cargo pants. I ve forgotten, with the time change, to turn off the reminder. I m still groggy with sleep, but I open the date and read the names: Iris Vale. Eun Ae Kim. Alan Rosenfeldt. Marlon Jensen. 

I close my eyes, and do what I do every day at this moment: I remember them. 

Iris, who had died tiny and birdlike, had once driven a getaway car for a man she loved who d robbed a bank. Eun Ae, who had been a doctor in Korea, but couldn t practice in the United States. Alan had proudly showed me the urn he bought for his cremated remains and then joked, I haven t tried it on yet. Marlon had changed out all the toilets in his house and put in new flooring and cleaned the gutters; he bought graduation gifts for his two children and hid them away. He took his twelve-year-old daughter to a hotel ballroom and waltzed with her while I filmed it on his phone, so that the day she got married there would be video of her dancing with her father. 

At one point, they were my clients. Now, they re my stories to keep. 

Everyone in my row is asleep. I slip my phone back into my pocket and carefully crawl over the woman to my right without disturbing her air traveler s yoga to make my way to the bathroom in the rear of the plane. There I blow my nose and look in the mirror. I m at the age where that s a surprise, where I still think I m going to see a younger woman rather than the one who blinks back at me. Lines fan from the corners of my eyes, like the creases of a familiar map. If I untangle the braid that lies over my left shoulder, these terrible fluorescent lights would pick up those first gray strands in my hair. I m wearing baggy pants with an elastic waist, like every other sensible nearly-forty woman who knows she s going to be on a plane for a long-haul flight. I grab a handful of tissues and open the

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, including A Spark of Light, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, The Storyteller, Lone Wolf, Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister s Keeper. She is also the author, with daughter Samantha van Leer, of two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. Picoult lives in New Hampshire.

A thrilling adventure . . . With Picoult s stories, there is always something new to learn, and The Book of Two Ways is no exception. . . . A fun and interesting read, one that will lead readers to both learn a lot and also ask themselves key questions about how to create happy lives for themselves during the short time we have on earth. Associated Press
 
The Book of Two Ways is a return for Picoult to the themes of her earliest books motherhood, complicated romantic love. . . . Picoult, at this point in her career, could skillfully build tension in a broom closet, but the best part of this book is not the suspense; it s the look at the complexity of a woman as she enters middle age. . . . Picoult always tells both sides of a story not with judgment, but with grace. The Washington Post
 
Jodi Picoult fans rejoice! . . . The Book of Two Ways is one story you won t be able to put down. CNN
 
Asking life or death questions in perfect Picoult fashion. Parade
 
[A] delightfully escapist, high-concept novel . . . The Book of Two Ways nearly spills over in its earnestness and emotion. . . . This is a book of big, burning questions such as what defines a great life. BookTrib

Picoult s fans will appreciate this multifaceted, high-concept work. Publishers Weekly
 
Picoult s fans will be more than ready for this puzzle of a novel. . . . [They] will find heady themes to consider. Booklist
 
Jodi Picoult knows how to write allll the feels, and The Book of Two Ways is no exception. Cosmopolitan
 
Unputdownable. E! Online
 
Riveting. Womendotcom
 
If you didn t already see Jodi s name and preorder this one, let us convince you. Good Housekeeping