Hello Now

Written by Jenny Valentine

Narrated by Lizzie Waterworth

A beautifully moving, exquisite and utterly original love story from Carnegie-shortlisted author Jenny Valentine – for 12+ girls, boys, and everything in between.

This is more than one story, more than one Now. But I’ll tell it as best I can.

Me? I’m Jude – like the Patron Saint of lost causes.
Him? He’s Novo. Like nothing on earth. Literally.

In the beginning, before Novo showed up, my mum and me moved to the seaside. Then the first of July, 11.34am. Novo arrived. I was like an atom in his orbit. Alone with him, feeling the pull. Suddenly in the moment, in the Now.

Then a terrible, unthinkable Now. One that could tear my family apart. But Nows can be undone, rewritten, changed.

Goodbye to life as I know it.
And Hello Now…

From Guardian-prize-winning author Jenny Valentine, this is a stunningly written exploration of what it means to live and love in the moment that quite literally transcends logic and time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Release date: Apr 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9780008382377

Jenny Valentine

Jenny Valentine is an award-winning writer for Young Adults. Her first novel Finding Violet Park won the Guardian prize in 2007 and since then she has written six more, including Broken Soup and Fire Colour One, as well as Iggy and Me, a series for younger children. Her work has been published in 19 countries and Hello Now, her latest YA novel, was published in the UK and US in April 2020. She lives all over the place and has two daughters.

Reviews for Hello Now

[heatherlinc · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

"Fire, Colour, One" was terribly slow and the storyline never won me over. Iris was a disturbed young protagonist whose secret fascination for starting fires I found quite concerning. Her family was horribly dis functional, especially her cold, heartless, greedy mother and step-father. The only character whom I had any sympathy for was Iris' dying father. This was a novel about lies, secrets and families, but I have read much better books by this author.

[sues7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A daughter meets her dying father after being separated from him at a young age. Her mother kept her away from him so the girl has no bond with her father. The short time they do spend together is enough to change that despite her mother's efforts. There are glorious metaphors and similes offering rich imagery. A recommended read.

[billiebook · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Another of those books that I enjoyed while I was reading, but, upon having time to reflect, left me with a lot of questions that affect my final impressions of the book.

1.) Iris is a pyromaniac. Iris's mother is awful. Iris sets her mother's closet on fire. Why does the mother not press charges or at least send Iris to therapy? Iris also sets fire to a supply closet at her school. Still, no charges, no therapy, no nothing. How does no one see a pattern here? How does Iris keep getting away with arson and facing no consequences?

2.) Ernest supposedly couldn't find Iris and Hannah and Lowell because Hannah and Lowell changed their names. These were not smart people. They did not manage to assume completely new identities. At best, they had their names legally changed. At worst, they registered their performance names with SAG. Either way, the expensive and supposedly excellent private investigators Ernest hired should have been able to find them. The only way a simple name change would have been enough to hide them is if the book were set in a pre-internet age, which it is not.

3.) Why is Thurston, Iris's best friend, obsessed with the rites and rituals surrounding death? And, that being the case, why does he not have some over-the-top reaction to Ernest's death?

4.) This is the big one and it's a bit of a spoiler. (Okay, kind of a huge spoiler.) What kind of asshole is Ernest to leave his hose to Iris, but leave her no funds on which to live. He tied up all her funds to purchase one painting for her—a painting which she loves above all other paintings and will never sell—and there is no other money left. So, basically, Iris has a huge house which she needs to maintain, not to mention needing to eat, and no money. She's a minor, who's still dependent on her mother (who is saddled with enormous debt) and has no skills with which to find a job. She has one painting and a house and nothing else and this is supposed to be some amazing, generous bequest that Ernest left her? Nope. Sorry. Ernest is actually a bit of an asshole for managing things this way. This is the thing that pretty much completely destroyed my enjoyment of this book. it's well-written and has characters I liked in spite of their many, criminal flaws, but this ending was bullshit.

There is a lot to like about this book, just don't think about it too much. Pretend there aren't giant, gaping plot holes and improbabilities and the characters and prose may be enough to sweep you along.