Best book I have read this year. It didn’t feel like a typical Picoult novel whilst reading so it is nice to see how she has adapted her writing and tried something a little more adventurous.

Highly recommend.

Jodi Picoult never shies away from writing about complex issues and The Book of Two Ways hits hard and particularly challenges thinking.

Dawn is a death doula whose life suddenly flashes before her eyes after being involved in a plane crash which makes her question the elements of the only life she has ever known. Her life suddenly splits into two different pathways - was is and what could have been. The elements of quantam physics, which I'll not pretend to understand, come into play and we are left questioning if the alternative us is living and entirely different life.

In Dawn's 'other life' she reconnects with the previous love of her life Egyptologist Wyatt and pursues the dreams she left behind in Egypt. In her 'real life' Dawn tries to reiginite a stale marriage and get to the bottom of her daughter's self esteem issues.

I'll admit some of the topics raised completely went over my head but other aspects completely blew my mind and I was at one point questioning what the 'other me' was up to.

I found this book to be a perfect lockdown book that got me thinking what if. As usual Jodi Picoult does joult us with a little twist and I would expect nothing less.

I would highly recommend this book if you want to question everything that you ever thought that you knew about life.

The Book of Two Ways is a story of missed opportunities and love. Mainly what could have happened if you made different decisions in life.

The story line is fantastic and should really be 4.5 star as it took me probably a third of the way through the book to realise what was going on and the initial chapters about Egypt were incredibly detailed, but also a little bit boring - but stick with it and its a really rewarding read. The high detail is there for a reason - it explains what Dawn is going through in life and the rest of the book often refers back to the initial stories.

The level of detail and research is really mind blowing and reminds you how fantastic an author Jodi is.

This is not a quick read, its a sit down and enjoy read which will move you. The character Dawn is loveable, and its rare to read a story of a missed opportunity in love without thinking the person should be more grateful for what they have now and to end up disliking the character.

Thank you so much for the ARC - I really grew to love this book.

I love Jodi picoult and have read and loved all of her previous novels. I enjoyed this book, but it definitely isn’t a light read. We follow Dawn, who has a near death experience and see her life split and travel along two possible paths - sliding doors style. One to Egypt and the other back to her home in Boston. I enjoyed some aspects of the book and did like the main character, I also came out of it feeling slightly more knowledgeable about Egyptology and quantum physics (though definitely only slightly!) it took a lot of concentration and energy to stay focused and remember all the facts previously taught, and at times I felt a bit overwhelmed. All in all not one I’d rush to read again, but good for those who like to get a lot of new info from their reads.
Thank you to netgalley, the author and publishers for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Dawn works helping terminally ill people have the life end that they would choose. Fifteen years ago she was a talented Egyptologist in love with a man she worked with but fate intervened when her Mother became gravely ill and she had to return home to care for her. At the hospice she meets the man she eventually marries. She begins to question her life and the path it might have taken if her Mother had remained healthy. A moving look at love, death, family and friendship.

Having read a couple of books by Jodi Picoult I was very excited to get accepted to review this one. It was a little different from the other book I’ve read. As always covers good topics and I did enjoy it. The style of writing is easy to read and follow.

I have read many of Jodi Picoult's other books - this was so different from anything she has written before - it was very different from her usual style.
For me, the book took a really long time to get going, so much so that I almost gave up.
The middle and ending were by far the best parts of the book and made it worth the read.
This is a book that will make you think - it's very sliding doors.

Big fan of Jodi Picoult. As soon as I saw this one I HAD to read it. I wasn’t disappointed it’s absolutely stunning. I can’t say much more than that really! A must read.

This is a rich, gorgeous, immersive book jam-packed with history, stories, myths and legends. I found it totally fascinating and particularly loved reading about the Ancient Egyptians.
I must admit to being a little lost with the timeline to begin with, but perhaps that was because I was reading an uncorrected ARC. I must also admit that some of the detail about hieroglyphics, the tombs, Egyptology and quantum physics went over my head. None of that mattered a jot, however.
I adored how Jodi Picoult embroidered so many colourful, intriguing strands into a magnificent tapestry of story-telling and clever plotting. I also loved how the themes paralleled each other: how the Book of Two Ways of the title, Brian’s quantum physics universe and Dawn’s two possible lives were so cleverly linked and interwoven. Even Dawn’s previous and current work simply sits at different points of the same spectrum and there are eerie parallels between the lives and loves of both Dawn and her client, Win.
OK, to the story. The New York Times sums it up very succinctly in its number one best selling hardcover listing in early October: After surviving a plane crash, a death doula travels to Egypt to reconnect with an old flame who is an archeologist.
Dawn McDowell is a death doula, helping her clients on their final journeys from life to death. Previously she was an Egyptologist, working on unearthing tombs, a calling she gave up when she had to become her young brother’s guardian. Now married to quantum physicist Brian, with a daughter, Meret, Dawn starts feeling the pull of Egypt again, and the man she met there.
The Book of Two Ways of the title refers to the first known map of the afterlife in ancient Egypt. It shows two routes, both of which wind up in the same place. Which route has Dawn chosen for her life? And is it the right one for a life well-lived?
I learnt so much of interest in this book, so many stories, so much history. There was an abundance of detail, but told with such simplicity and a knack for story-telling that it never bogged me down. Picoult transported me to those ancient tombs, to the heat and scratch of Egypt, the desert at night and the sheer magnificence of Djehutynakht’s tomb. She uses down-to-earth and often humorous language to describe things and make them accessible, such as describing Egyptian goddess, Sakhmet (the flip side of the goddess Hathor) as “Hathor on a rampage, with PMS”, and king Akhenaton as the Grinch.
The Book of Two Ways gave me much food for thought, and certainly got me thinking about death.
It’s packed with ancient, fascinating stories. As well as the colourful tales from the various Egyptian kingdoms there lots of folklore from Ireland, courtesy of Dawn’s mum; tales about the origin of art, told by Dawn’s dying client, Win, and a particularly wonderful UK superstition about death from the 18th/19th century.
I haven’t read a Jodi Picoult novel for many years now and am so delighted I chose to read this one.

First of all I love all of the themes in this novel, but especially the exploration of the life you are currently living pitted against the life you once had but chose not to lead, given the circumstances you were experiencing when you made your decision. Who has not thought deeply about their ‘What ifs?’ in life and measured them against the path you actually took.
Dawn Edelstein lives in Boston with her husband Brian and teenage daughter Meret. She works in social care as a death doula, becoming a death partner with clients who have a terminal diagnosis and need qualified help with working through their passage from life to death. She is full of compassion and empathy. This job suits her to a ‘T’. When this story begins Win is her current client and they are already forging a friendship built on trust and loyalty. They have many overlapping areas of their past lives and Dawn is determined to make Win ready for whatever comes next, but she is full of personal angst and quandaries.
In her previous career fifteen years previously Dawn excelled in her motivation and flair. She was a committed and talented Egyptologist, working to reveal the secrets of the past. She fell deeply in love with the leader of her project Wyatt, who became not only her mentor but her secret lover. She feels that her life plan is settled and she is ecstatic. Then one day she had no choice but to return home when her mother was gravely ill with an end of life diagnosis.
Visiting her mother and caring for her in the hospice she meets the man she eventually marries. He is also grieving, having lost a loved one. But what would have happened if her mother had remained healthy and fit? This was Dawn’s ‘itch’: something she thought deeply about and eventually she had to scratch that itch. After a jolt of bad luck Dawn makes a snap decision which will change her life forever. This is Dawn’s story.
I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful novel, Jodi Picoult is so talented and writes stories full of heart and emotion, creating a story that captures your heart and makes you care desperately about what happens to her eclectic cast of characters. The thread of the story set in Egypt has been meticulously researched and this gruelling work undertaken with flair and zest enriches her story a hundred fold, making it authentic and full of interest. I love the issues raised in this story: life and death, friendship and love and making choices and changes in your journey, creating new beginnings and ultimately finding the pathway that you were destined to take.
Thank you for my copy of this novel received through my membership of NetGalley and from publisher Hodder & Stoughton, sent to me in return for an honest unbiased review. I thoroughly enjoyed it and my review reflects this. I recommend this novel as an uplifting and heart-warming read with a really lovely, satisfying ending. It is a 4.5* review from me.

Sometimes in your lifetime there's a moment, an event, a something that makes you reevaluate what you have done in your life. And, and this might be more important, what you haven't. Dawn has such a moment and it is this that snatches her out of her current life - mother, wife and death doula, living in Boston - and transports her - mentally and then physically - thousands of miles and a fair few years back to Egypt, to the job she left, the man she left, the life she left when she was forced to return home on the death of her mother.
Told in the present, with flashbacks to the past, in a story of meandering timeline, we follow Dawn as she tries to come to terms with a life she thought she was settled in, as she also plays a dangerous game of "what if"...
OK so... as well as a cracking story of, what could be construed as Dawn's coming of age, we also have a history lesson of ancient Egypt. The Kings, the symbolism, the hieroglyphs, burial rituals, all that stuff which, although important to the story being told, did get a bit much at times, especially with all the explanations and drawings - especially as I didn't know how important it was to really understand that side of things - would there be a pop quiz in a couple of chapters? It isn't and there wasn't so... although you can't really skip these bits - as the symbolism is important, you don't need to fully understand everything as you go along. I did find a lot quite fascinating but a lot also went right over my head.
That aside, the story was gripping and held my attention nicely all the way through. I did feel for Dawn - how her life was turned upside down - but I also thought that she was a bit of a cow too at times in the way she handled things but then again - who am I to judge? It's especially important and poignant in the times in which we currently live to make the best of things - but also to do a bit of soul searching to see if the best we have is the best we could have. And I am sure that Dawn's story is not the only one of its ilk being played out now...
One of the key things I will take from reading this book is that there is such a thing as a death doula - who knew such a thing existed? Now that's something I am quite interested in finding more about...
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Not quite what I was expecting. I have loved Jodi’s previous work and was really looking forward to picking up this book, however I really struggled with it. I honestly felt like I wasn’t clever enough to grasp the very detailed Egyptology references and for me this districted from the story too much to enjoy it. I can imagine anybody with a true passion for the history, lore and culture of Egypt spoke about in this book is going to absolutely love it but unfortunately it was just not for me.

I usually love a Jodi Picoult book and I was so excited to get this to review, but sadly this one lacked Jedi’s usual spark for me, I found myself lost and a bit bored at times, went into way too much detail on things it didn’t need to, just not for me this one sadly


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Jodi Picoult is one of my all time favourite authors and I was beside myself when I got approved for this. This book was not her usual 'controversial topic' style, but the unique set up of a crossroads and a woman whose life splits into two journeys was a fascinating concept. I liked the characters and the chemistry between them, but for me the story was overshadowed by the Egyptology information throughout. I understand the need to include it, seeing as that's where the concept of the book originated from, but I felt so much pressure trying to understand the background in order to get the most satisfaction from the novel as a whole. Jodi herself said she had only put the information in that was necessary to complement the story, but I was a little lost. I am going to try this novel again when my signed copy arrives in case it is just the wrong time for me mentally.

I’ve been reading Jodi Picoult’s books for years and have always appreciated her impressive and thorough research culminating in a great novel that has a plot and stretches your mind all at the same time. Sadly The Book of Two Ways bored me from page one. The author's thorough research cannot be questioned as about a quarter of the novel is about Ancient Egypt with enormous amount of detail of ancients kings and families, dynasties of pharaohs, hieroglyphs, ideograms, Egyptian deities and Ancient Egyptian culture. Dawn McDowell, the central character in the book, is at Yale in 2001 studying The Book of Two Ways which is the first known map of the afterlife found in certain coffins in Egypt. She discovers that a fellow student, Wyatt Armstrong, whom she takes an instant dislike to, is also studying The Books of Two Ways. They spend three seasons at a dig site near Deir el-Bersha in the middle of Egypt excavating ancients tombs. Their instant dislike becoming something quite the opposite.

In present day Dawn is married to Brian Edelstein, a quantum physicist in Boston, and they have a teenage daughter, Meret. Just as we get about a quarter of the way through the book we switch location to mainly Boston and I heaved a sigh of relief at not having to skim read reams of Ancient Egyptian terminology only to be plunged into a lesson on Quantum Mechanics. On top of this Dawn, in current day, is a death doula who helps people die well. Motto number one is that her needs are the lowest priority as she cares for the person dying and their carers, doing whatever she can, provided it is legal, to make their passing easier. The reader gets a mass of details about the process of dying and what we should be aware of emotionally as well as physically. I really should not have chosen to read to book and certainly not during the already dark days of 2020. It was not helped that there is an ongoing theme in the books about ‘Two Ways’ which is constantly being alluded to via Ancient Egytian culture, Quantum Mechanics with explanation of electrons going clockwise and counter clockwise at the same time and other allegories throughout the book. Schrödinger's Cat is in there too. Reflecting this theme there were two simultaneous strands of the same present (Sliding Doors style) going on at one point but I lost track of when that started or even if it really was supposed to read that way as there was no coming back together but also no clear conclusion. These changes were during the narrative in Egypt and I was skim reading these sections so I wasn’t always clear as to whether we were in the early 2000s or present day as there was nothing in the text to indicate the time changes. One paragraph would be in one time period the next in another. I didn’t like any of the characters and I didn’t like the ending. If I had not requested and received a galley copy this would have been a DNF after 10%.

With thanks to NetGalley and HodderBooks for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

3.5 stars
This is a good read.
Dawn survives a plane crash but instead of hoping to be reunited with her husband and daughter, she starts thinking of the lover she left behind 15 years ago. Dawn has two paths in front of her, but which one will she take?
The book is written well and shows the reader the two alternatives of what Dawn's life could be - in Boston or Egypt.
Some of the Egyptology information was a bit too detailed but may be fascinating to some people.
This book explores life, death and love and makes you think about your own life and the choices you’ve made.
All in all a good read that stays in your mind after reading it.
Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I am completely blown away by this unique beautiful story. It's vivid and rich in emotion and stunning in its complexities. Egypt, ancient history and archeology have always been my deepest dream and desire so to have it all put so perfectly to paper like the author did has given me a gift. As Dawn and her possible futures unfold on the pages we see a woman who thinks of the people around her first. When she starts to realize that what she has may not be what she wanted in her deepest darkest places hidden away from even herself, she does the only think she can. Wyatt. Bryan. Het daughter. Her brother. They are all woven together in her heart, and how does she choose between pieces of her soul? The dreams she had for herself are never to late to reclaim and actualize. She is not one of her patients, coming to terms with their lives slipping away from them. She is not one of the mummies wrapped in tombs for thousands of years waiting to be unearthed. Life is for the living and as Dawn comes to terms with life she wants we live it with her. I loved every minute of this once in a lifetime read and I recommend it to everyone who has more than one love, or has experienced a shift in their paths, a crossing of fates or that long sought after second chance romance that takes your breath away.

I'm.a huge fan of Jodi Picoult and was really eager to read her new novel.
Admittedly, I picked it up and put it down quite a few times and it took me a length of time to become engaged in The Book of Two Ways.

Its very thought-provoking and felt quite 'different' from her novels. Different in that made me question and reflect upon some of the choices I had made in life and what would have happened if I had chosen the alternative path.

I loved that the text was part historical and as I love Egypt - this was right up my.street, however, I can understand if it felt a bit 'much' for other readers. I felt that the characters were believable and overall I enjoyed the novel.

If you love a love story with a difference you will enjoy this, especially if you have a passion for Egyptology !!

Dawn is a death doula but didn’t expect to have a near death experience when her plan has to crash land. Against the odds she survives the crash and she has to reevaluate her life.

Dawn is married to Brian and has a daughter, Meret. But she can’t help thinking of her old flame Wyatt, who she worked with in Egypt many years ago. Her relationship with Brian is on the rocks and Wyatt is still there in her mind - what should she do ?

The story is very heavy on the Egyptian history, which I did find hard going at times but overall I loved the love story, past and present. If you love Egypt and love stories you will love this book. A very emotional and touching book, as is always guaranteed with Jodi Picoult.

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book.

2.5 stars

This was a very frustrating read for me. I intially liked the story and the concept but over the first half, I became disillusioned with the plot and the over academic approach to the Egyptology storyline. As the title indicates, The Book of Two Ways narrates two diverging stories or possibilities for Dawn.

Dawn was a death doula and having some insight into this role through my professional life, I can say that this aspect of the story was well researched. However, I prefer not to be immersed in death and dying in fiction because it consumes a lot of my day job, so that may explain my dislike in part. I didn’t love the storyline of Win because of the reasons I’ve just explained.

I did enjoy parts of the Egypt timeline/storyline but I think readers will either love or hate this because again, it is written is significant academic depth which isn’t really what you expect of women’s fiction. What I did like was Dawn as a character, a women who’d lost her way and identity. I didn’t always like her choices but I did champion her and Wyatt.

I tend to either love or dislike Jodi Picoult’s books and unfortunately this one was the latter. I’m really interested to hear other people’s thoughts on this though.