Thank you to Random House Publishing Group/ Ballantine Books for providing me with a copy of Jodi Picoult’s latest novel, The Book of Two Ways, in exchange for an honest review.

While working on a dig in Egypt, graduate student Dawn Edelstein receives a call that her mom has terminal cancer. Dawn rushes back to the United States, both abandoning her dreams of becoming an Egyptologist and leaving behind a new, yet very passionate relationship with a fellow student named Wyatt.

While her mother is in hospice, Dawn meets Brian, a physicist whose grandmother is dying. Responsible and thoughtful, Brian is the polar opposite to the charming and adventurous Wyatt. Dawn realizes that with her mother’s death, her life has changed; she can no longer afford to complete her degree and she must assume guardianship of her underaged brother. Rather than reach out to Wyatt and explain her situation, she simple moves forward with life, marrying Bryan, and soon discovering that she is pregnant.

Dawn’s interest in Egyptology centered around death and the afterlife, so it wasn’t surprising that she found purpose in her new career as a “death doula.” A bit different from a hospice worker, a death doula provides emotional and spiritual support to the dying and their loved ones. Dawn helps fulfill final requests to allow the terminally ill to end their lives in peace.

Brian and Dawn settle into their routines and their relationship suffers. Dawn has trouble relating to her teenage daughter, Meret, who has more in common with Brian. Often, it feels as if Meret and Brian have teamed up against her.

After being involved in a plane crash, and having her own life and death experience, Dawn realizes that she must return to Egypt to take care of her own unfinished business. She calls her family to tell them she is okay, but rather than catching the next flight home, she hops on a flight to Egypt, where Wyatt is now the professor in charge of the dig site. Can Dawn fix the past? How will her past influence her present?

I’ve read many of Picoult’s previous novels and I’m a fan. I was thrilled for the opportunity to read The Book of Two Ways. It’s a beautiful story about love, loss, and the choices that we make.

The passion between Dawn and Wyatt is electric. I was blushing from what I was reading and it almost felt like I was intruding on their privacy! I don’t generally read romance novels, and The Book of Two Ways is more literary than romance, yet the love story aspect of it is one of the most passionate that I have ever read. I’m just going to admit it, I was crushing on Wyatt!

The other primary relationship is between Dawn and Meret. Meret is having a difficult time making friends in school and she embarrassed that she is overweight. It’s not easy that Dawn is effortlessly thin and cannot relate to her daughter. Picoult does a fine job at creating the dynamic between mother and daughter, but also having them work through their issues in a realistic way. Dawn has complicated relationships with all of the characters, but none are without love.

Prior to reading The Book of Two Ways, I had never heard of a death doula and I found it fascinating. I have been the primary caregiver for several family members who have passed, in fact, I have no close blood relatives alive, and I would have loved to have had the guidance of a death doula. It is such a compassionate and lovely way to help the dying and also to aid their loved ones with grieving.

Overall, I loved The Book of Two Ways. My only small complaint is that Picoult sometimes bogged down the story with explanations of Egyptian history and mythology. It was a bit too much and detracted from Dawn’s story. It was interesting, but it certainly slowed the pace and felt like a different novel entirely- more history textbook than novel.

That said, if you are a fan of Picoult, this is a must read. It’s a raw and honest story of how our relationships and the choices we make impact not only our life, but the way we feel about transitioning to our next life.