Dear Edward

Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano was published in 2020. It is the story of a 12-year-old boy who is the lone survivor of a plane crash that kills 191 others, including his family. As Edward struggles to cope with the tragedy, letters from others affected by the crash spark a journey of healing and self-discovery. Although the novel is fiction, it was inspired by true events.

Ann Napolitano is a resident of New York City. After earning her Master of Fine Arts from New York University, she began teaching in several fiction writing programs, including NYU, Brooklyn College, and Gotham Writers Workshop. Before Dear Edward, she authored two other novels, A Good Hard Look and Within Arm’s Reach.

Dear Edward takes place in two timelines: Edward’s life after the crash is interspersed with flashbacks to the hours before the tragedy. Both timelines are in the present tense; the third-person prose is omniscient, as it explores the experiences and emotions of many characters.

Plot Summary

Edward Adler and his family—his parents and his older brother, Jordan—board Flight 2977 from Newark, New Jersey, to Los Angeles. They are moving from their home in New York City for his mother’s writing career. Before reaching its destination, Flight 2977 crashes. Everyone but Edward dies. After recovering from his injuries, Edward moves in with his aunt and uncle, Lacey and John. Edward becomes disturbed to learn that he is meant to stay in the house’s nursery; the room sits empty after Lacey suffered multiple miscarriages.

Edward meets his neighbor, Besa, and her daughter, Shay. Immediately drawn to Shay, Edward visits her at home that night and finds that he is finally able to fall asleep. Edward continues to sleep on her bedroom floor nightly. Edward becomes a celebrity because of the crash. After his first day of public school, students and strangers trying to touch him and take photos bombard Edward. When his family’s belongings arrive at his new home, Edward begins wearing his and Jordan’s old clothes. Months later, the boyfriend of Linda Stollen, who died on the flight, approaches Edward after school. Edward recognizes the man’s pain, and he begins to understand the wide-reaching nature of the crash.

After arriving in Washington, DC, for a hearing to learn more about the crash, Edward’s anxiety overwhelms him, and he decides not to attend. John goes in his stead. Edward finds out that an artist built a memorial to the tragedy at the crash site, but he chooses not to attend its unveiling.

Two years after the crash, Besa tells Edward that he can no longer sleep on Shay’s floor, which devastates him. He feels distant from his only friend and further isolates himself. While on a walk alone one night, Edward enters John’s garage. Inside, he finds folders with pictures of the plane crash victims and two locked duffel bags.

Edward and Shay open the bags to find piles of letters from people who lost loved ones on Flight 2977. They are all addressed to Edward, and most of them make requests for Edward to pursue the hobbies and lifestyles of those who died. Edward and Shay find a letter from a man named Jax, whose businessman brother died on the flight and left him seven million dollars. Jax includes a check for the same amount, but Edward doesn’t decide if he’ll accept the money.

Edward and Shay take a bus to New York City to meet Mahira, Jordan’s secret girlfriend at the time of the crash. After returning to the garage, Shay falls asleep, and Edward feels his first romantic attraction to her. When John finds them, he confesses that he hid the letters to protect Edward. After learning Jax has died, Edward asks for Lacey and John’s help in using the money to benefit the people who wrote him letters. The family also repurposes the empty nursery.

The final letter Edward opens is from the paramedic who rescued him in the plane wreckage. In the novel’s epilogue, Edward and Shay drive to the crash memorial site. Seeing the healed landscape allows Edward to find closure. Readers learn that Edward and Shay will start a family together years later.

Chapters that take place on Flight 2977 intercut the plot. These chapters explore the lives and problems of several other passengers; they work to deepen the themes and foreshadow the experiences of Edward’s journey.