Famed writer Jodi Picoult novelizes the pandemic in new e-book 'desire You were here'

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author Jodi Picoult attends the STARZ mid-season optimal of "Outlander" on the Ziegfeld Theatre on April 1, 2015, in big apple. Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP disguise caption

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creator Jodi Picoult attends the STARZ mid-season premiere of "Outlander" at the Ziegfeld Theatre on April 1, 2015, in big apple.

Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

writer Jodi Picoult says she could not wrap her head round how she might tell the story of the pandemic — to each memorialize it and make feel of it.

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hope You had been here, via Jodi Picoult Ballantine Books hide caption

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wish You have been here, with the aid of Jodi Picoult

Ballantine Books

That become until she heard the genuine story of a japanese vacationer that ended up stranded in Machu Picchu as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. instead of going returned home to Japan, the vacationer, named Jesse Katayama, wound up staying in the gateway group of Aguas Calientes for months until the govt offered Katayama special permission to look the old web site.

"i assumed, oh, I've not ever been to Machu Picchu. I can't write about that, and i'm not getting in 2020," Picoult advised Scott Simon on Weekend edition. "however I even have been to the Galápagos. We took our youngsters there a long time ago, and it be all and sundry's bucket checklist destination. and i notion, absolutely someone bought stuck there."

Picoult did locate someone. There turned into a younger Scottish man trapped within the Galápagos. She tracked him down and did an interview with him and the families he stayed with. From there, she begun to craft her story.

In Picoult's 26st novel wish You were here, launched Tuesday — with rights already bought to Netflix — she centers on Diana O'Toole, who is on the verge of 30, an associate expert at Sotheby's and about to fly off to the Galápagos together with her boyfriend, Finn, who's a surgical resident. everything is going in accordance with plan for Diana.

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Then March 13, 2020 happens. The pandemic.

Finn is advised via his boss, as Picoult notes, "You aren't allowed to go away the hospital. And he says to his female friend, 'seem, this holiday is paid for. you should definitely go.'"

And so Diana does. but upon arrival, she is told the island will shut down for 2 weeks. Her accommodations are voided, and he or she has to find a means to get through on an island that does not have stable Wi-Fi or respectable cellphone provider.

She's on their lonesome on the island where Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by using natural preference turned into fashioned. Picoult said being there "or not it's like an attractive metaphor."

Diana starts re-evaluating her lifestyles — her relationships, selections and herself — questioning when she returns back home, would she have developed into an extra adult?

"Diana definitely learns to re-evaluate the desires she had and the existence she wanted and starts off to ask herself, 'Why did I need these issues within the first location?' - which I think is an journey that many people had," Picoult spoke of. "The pandemic was such a strange time because we had been all so isolated, however we have been all feeling the same things. You be aware of, we just weren't connecting about it."

in the Galápagos, Diana learns a lot, not essentially herself, however also her job and paintings, working with impressionist paintings.

"I saved pondering lots about impressionism, and that i kept pondering how in case you see a Monet painting from 6 inches away, or not it's lots of blobs of fairly color," Picoult said. "but if you step returned a couple of ft, you go, 'Oh, or not it's a cathedral; oh, it be water lilies' — since you have point of view. And we are just now starting to get perspective on what 2020 become."

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As for Picoult, she stated discovered lots too, noting how she's a "handle freak." And like lots of us, she said she learned that or not it's ok to grieve for the belongings you've misplaced.

but she additionally pointed to the thought that perhaps a few of us found new measures of success.

"perhaps or not it's no longer getting a level or a promotion or a slot on a bestseller listing," she referred to. "maybe in its place it's having your fitness and figuring out your family unit's in shape, having a roof over your head, being in a position to hang the hand of a person who's dying," she mentioned. "You be aware of, and suddenly, I consider having all these new senses of what our priorities are, that's what i am really interested in. possibly we can be improved and stronger in the future on account of it."

NPR's Ian Stewart produced Scott Simon's interview with Jodi Picoult for NPR's Weekend edition. Kroc Fellow Mia Estrada adapted it for the web.