Great Big Beautiful Life

De: Emily Henry

Narrado por: Julia Whelan

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK ∙ AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ∙ Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping novel from Emily Henry.

As featured in The New York Times ∙ Rolling Stone ∙ People ∙ Good Morning America ∙ NPR ∙ Vogue ∙ The Cut ∙ USA Today ∙ Cosmopolitan ∙ Harper's Bazaar ∙ Marie Claire ∙ Glamour ∙ ELLE ∙ E! Online ∙ The New York Post ∙ Bustle ∙ Reader's Digest ∙ BBC ∙ PopSugar ∙ SheReads ∙ Paste ∙ and more!

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.

©2025 Emily Henry (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Her best-selling romances have made her a new standard-bearer of the genre."—The New York Times

“Readers can count on Em-Hen to transport them to a kinder, sunnier, and funnier galaxy where happy endings can be counted on . . . Henry’s magic elixir, it seems, is to return again and again to a simple boy-meets-girl formula while writing textured novels populated with vivid characters that never feel formulaic: she takes us back to a time when we believed, with all our being, that love conquers all.”—The Boston Globe

“A sweeping love story about the choices we make and the threads that knit us together. Thoughtful, moving, and deliciously tender. Emily Henry is as captivating as ever. I love everything she does.”—B.K. Borison, New York Times bestselling author of First Time Caller

So so good

Couldn’t put it down. One of her best yet! And Julia is one of my favorites. Exceptional writing and narration.

Amazing

I rarely feel so deeply for characters in a book but the descriptive technique of the writer was INCREDIBLE.

Put me off croissants

This book was fine. I actually enjoy a mystery and if there’s romance thrown in even better. I read several reviews on Audible and goodreads and I disagree that this story doesn’t belong in the romance genre. I thought Alice’s and Hayden’s relationship was convincing and, while a bit fast tracked, they were in a fairly unique situation- two good looking people with a career in common who are isolated in a small town with no other friends and they’ve signed NDAs that made talking about the one other thing going on in their lives impossible. If we can all suspend belief that any of these storybook main characters are single, then I can certainly believe these two opposites would be attracted to each other given the intense conditions.

I have listened twice this week and I still don’t understand the title. Did I miss a reference to it earlier in the story? I certainly heard the last sentence but there’s a disconnect for me between the story (stories) and the title. Something like “Yours, Mine and the Truth” seems more apropos to me and might have given all the haters a heads up that there was more to the story than just two people canoodling and sleeping together for 35 chapters.

The main reason I am bothering to leave a review is in the off chance that EH or JW bother to read their reviews, I’ll thank them to never write or say the word, “croissant” ever again. None of these characters were French. It does not take place in France. There was no value added to the story by making the pronunciation of the word “French” - quotation marks are intentional because I can’t imagine any French person appreciating it either. As the kids say, can you not?

I expect the rights to this story have already been purchased and I’ll look forward to seeing the story come to life. I like mid-century Hollywood glamour and the bulk of the story within a story takes place during that era. Just please, no croissants.

So Good

So I’ve always enjoyed Emily Henry’s books, she’s a great writer but this book is just wow. I was born and raised in northern MI, and live in Traverse City (even in an orange house,) reading Funny Story was so fun. The depth of this book was incredible, her best yet in my opinion!

Julia Whelan is the queen of narration

My favorite Emily Henry to date. Julia Whelan once again absolutely kills it with the narration, I will literally listen to any book she narrates. 10/10

Just a Story

Love a great story read by Julia Whelan. Just always hits the mark. It’s about life and love and you just can’t go wrong with that combination ever.

I want to be Emily Henry when I grow up

I love all her books and Great Big Beautiful Life delivered! Loved it! I’m sad I have to wait a year for another one. I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed the emotional roller coaster and didn’t want it to end. One of my favorite parts of her writing is her banter, just hilarious. She inspired me to write about my own love story. Emily if you ever see this, thank you! Your writing is a gift and thank you for sharing it with us :)

😍😭🥹

Nothing better than a book that has it all, she did it again, family, found love, sweet and mischievous man. Love it so much and I don’t write reviews often but Ugg this book make me feel so much, finished in less than a day lol

Absolutely incredible

Don’t listen to some of the negative reviews and form your own opinion. I’m a huge Emily Henry fan and this was AMAZING!! If you’re expecting “rom com” this isn’t that. I loved the two stories in one. One of my new favorites for sure.

7 husbands mixed with Book Lovers

Very cute. Different than her other books , but still the love story intertwined with side plots. The blend of the old and new was sweet.