Complex Interplay of Romance and Family Drama

Known for books like Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry is the patron saint of millennial romance. But for her latest novel, the author says she wanted to challenge herself in a new way. Great Big Beautiful Life is a story within a story about two journalists who are competing to write the biography of a fictional media heiress. There's romance at the center of the novel, but the story also follows a century-long family drama. In today's episode, Henry speaks with NPR's Miles Parks about braiding these two plots together, her interest in mother-daughter relationships, and grief as the flipside of love.

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