The Next Person You Meet in Heaven: The Sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven

by Mitch Albom

Overview

In this enchanting sequel to the #1 bestseller The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom tells the story of Eddie’s heavenly reunion with Annie—the little girl he saved on earth—in an unforgettable novel of how our lives and losses intersect.

In Mitch Albom’s beloved novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the world fell in love with Eddie, a grizzled war veteran-turned-amusement park mechanic who died saving the life of a young girl named Annie. Eddie’s journey to heaven taught him that every life matters. Now, in this magical sequel, Albom reveals Annie’s story.

The accident that killed Eddie left an indelible mark on Annie. It took her left hand, which needed to be surgically reattached. Injured, scarred, and unable to remember why, Annie’s life is forever changed by a guilt-ravaged mother who whisks her away from the world she knew. Bullied by her peers and haunted by something she cannot recall, Annie struggles to find acceptance as she grows. When, as a young woman, she reconnects with Paulo, her childhood love, she believes she has finally found happiness.

As the novel opens, Annie is marrying Paulo. But when her wedding night day ends in an unimaginable accident, Annie finds herself on her own heavenly journey—and an inevitable reunion with Eddie, one of the five people who will show her how her life mattered in ways she could not have fathomed.

Poignant and beautiful, filled with unexpected twists, The Next Person You Meet in Heaven reminds us that not only does every life matter, but that every ending is also a beginning—we only need to open our eyes to see it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062294456
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/01/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	28,929
Product dimensions:	4.90(w) x 7.20(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	HL630L (what's this?)

About the Author

Mitch Albom is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, which have collectively sold more than forty-one million copies in forty-seven languages worldwide. He has written eight number-one New York Times bestsellers—including Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time—award-winning TV films, stage plays, screenplays, a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and a musical. Through his work at the Detroit Free Press, he was inducted into both the National Sports Media Association and Michigan Sports halls of fame and is the recipient of the 2010 Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement. Albom founded and oversees SAY Detroit, a consortium of nine different charitable operations in his hometown, along with a nonprofit dessert shop and food product line to fund programs for Detroit’s most underserved citizens. Since 2010, he has operated the Have Faith Haiti orphanage in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, which he visits monthly. He lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan.

Hometown:

Franklin, Michigan

Date of Birth:

May 23, 1958

Place of Birth:

Passaic, New Jersey

Education:

B.A., Brandeis University, 1979; M.J., Columbia University, 1981; M.B.A., Columbia University, 1982

Editorial Reviews

[Albom’s] new novel offers unexpected twists and clever turns that will delight his passionate fans.

AARP Magazine

As Annie learns her lessons about the meaning and value of both life and death, Albom wraps up this heartfelt fable with a totally unexpected twist. Order plenty of copies, and warn readers to keep their hankies handy!

Booklist

Albom’s gift for storytelling continues to shine in this sequel.” — Library Journal

“[Albom’s] new novel offers unexpected twists and clever turns that will delight his passionate fans.” — AARP Magazine

“Fans of the first book will have plenty to appreciate here.” — Publishers Weekly

“It’s a tale filled with joy, heart and wisdom, and it’s a reminder to cherish those we love most.” — Woman’s World Magazine

From the Publisher

It’s a tale filled with joy, heart and wisdom, and it’s a reminder to cherish those we love most.

Woman’s World Magazine

As Annie learns her lessons about the meaning and value of both life and death, Albom wraps up this heartfelt fable with a totally unexpected twist. Order plenty of copies, and warn readers to keep their hankies handy!

Booklist

It’s a tale filled with joy, heart and wisdom, and it’s a reminder to cherish those we love most.

Women's World Magazine

It’s a tale filled with joy, heart and wisdom, and it’s a reminder to cherish those we love most.

Woman's World Magazine

As a writer, Albom has a knack for creating stunning imagery and tapping into the deepest human emotions. Once again, as he narrates his latest work, he proves himself to be just as good a voice actor. Told in the third person, the story casts Albom as an omnipotent narrator; the protagonist, Annie; and a small collection of divinely selected people whom Annie meets in heaven. Albom ensures that no two characters sound alike in tone, tempo, or delivery, and he seamlessly switches between them as well. With its touching message and expert narration, this audiobook is sure to bring some listeners to tears. V.T. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2018 - AudioFile

2018-07-02
Albom (The Magic Strings of Frankie Pesto, 2015, etc.) returns to the scene of previous literary crime: heaven, that is, and the realm of departed folks who are only too glad to dispense advice."This is a story about a woman named Annie, and it begins at the end, with Annie falling from the sky." In this sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003), gruff Eddie the maintenance man gets to have a little chat with the aforementioned Annie, for whom he gave up his life in a freak roller-coaster accident in the first book, sparing her from death. So what's she doing up in the afterlife? Well, it seems Annie has fallen in love, married, and then honored the event by going up in a hot air balloon. What is it with her and divergent modes of transportation? And now, thanks to high-tension wires, Annie has bitten the big one—or maybe not—and is wandering around in the clouds reliving past mistakes and holding self-discovery sessions with, yes, five of her predecessors in the dirt nap. You'd think Eddie would be a little ticked that he lost a decade to a woman who seemed destined for the express checkout lane in any case, especially because, Albom writes, "She never thought about heaven." He adds, helpfully, "But heaven is always thinking about us." Yep, and yuck. There's more than a little of The Little Prince here ("A vast brown desert surrounded her. / And she was alone") and more than a little too much wisdom ("We don't realize who else we punish while we're punishing ourselves"). A question: Isn't it a cheat when one of the dead quintet is a dog? And further: If you avoid death proper but have met your allotted five people in the great fluffy cloud beyond during your near-death experience, do you have to meet five other people when your time actually does come? Isn't that fudging the numbers?For those who prize fortune-cookie philosophy and sticky-sweet resolutions, this is just the ticket to ride.

Kirkus Reviews