Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

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Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
Published by Berkley on April 22, 2025
Age Group & Genres: Adult, Contemporary
Format: Physical
Source: Library

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 new novel from Emily Henry.

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 20th 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.

There’s something absolutely magnetic about Emily Henry’s writing, and Great Big Beautiful Lie is no exception.

Henry’s latest novel revolves around former socialite Margaret Ives, the daughter of one of the most influential families of the 20th century, who disappeared decades ago supposedly to a small island called Little Crescent and leaving no trace of where she went. She invites Alice, a journalist, and Hayden, an award-winning biographer, for a month on the island where she’ll give them a series of interviews before deciding who would get to tell her story.

I actually picked up Great Big Beautiful Life because I was in the mood for a romance, but honestly, I felt like the marketing was a disservice because while this has a romance, it’s mostly plot. It’s a little different from Henry’s previous works, as it’s told in the present and in the past, but still has the signature charm and wit of the characters, and entrancing writing that we know and love. But if I want to be really honest, it felt like Alice and Hayden were the side characters while Margaret was the main character, because their blooming relationship and story takes a huge backseat while Margaret tells Alice pieces of her story and family history. In fact, I think it takes such a huge backseat that sometimes it feels like Alice and Hayden didn’t develop as characters.

I enjoyed this a lot, though, despite feeling a bit bamboozled; it’s probably my second favorite from Henry after Funny Story. Great Big Beautiful Life is ultimately a family saga: how the stories and choices of the people before us play a part in shaping who we are today (even if we like to think otherwise), and how sometimes our parents or we do the exact opposite of our parents to break a cycle but the result ends up with a similar cycle playing out.

You wanted to know what it was like to be born into my family. Before you can understand that, you have to understand where this all began. My story, every bit of it, is tangled up with what Lawrence did.

There’s a lot that’s going on, and a lot of characters to keep track of in Margaret’s family history as she tells her story to Alice. It’s easy to forget them all, but I think that’s kind of the point here: they might not be relevant to one person, but they’re relevant to the person telling the story, and even then, they might just drift by as pieces that move the story forward.

Henry also examines what the media does to people in the spotlight, especially women; how people’s perceptions of you could change so quickly: one moment they love you, the next moment they hate you, then the next you’re irrelevant as they move on to the next shiny new person to obsess with — and the cycle repeats.

We see this play out in each of the generations of Margaret’s family history, from her great-grandfather to Margaret until she disappears from the public eye: how despite some of her family members trying to take control of the narrative — buying more newspapers out — there is always going to be something else out there cropping up, and how it affects them even if they show a different part of themselves to the world.

The love of strangers was mercurial. You did nothing to earn it and so could do nothing to prevent it from vanishing, or souring into hatred.

Great Big Beautiful Life also dives a little into how sometimes parents will provide for their kids, but then their kids feel otherwise. It touches a little on how sometimes one will have a bond with one parent growing up where they can understand each other, but then it feels like there’s a misunderstanding with another. Families are messy and complicated, but there’s also something beautiful about them and the little moments in life.

In some ways, while much of the story centers on Margaret, there’s also some parallels to Alice’s and Hayden’s lives growing up as well in relation to Margaret’s story, even if all three of them have vastly different experiences. It’s an examination of how there are a variety of stories and perspectives out there, and how there are different versions of the truth. But ultimately, how all of those stories that are told can be twisted to fit someone else’s reality.

Looking back, while it feels like while Alice and Hayden didn’t develop as characters overall, it was practically intentional. But I personally feel like there was an absolute missed opportunity to explore Alice’s and Hayden’s back stories a little further instead of the rushed version we ended up getting toward the end, and the bits and pieces that get overshadowed by Margaret’s story.

If you’re looking for a romance, you’ll definitely want to adjust your expectations. Great Big Beautiful Life is something a little different from Emily Henry’s trademark, and I think ultimately you’ll either hate it or love it. I fall into the latter category, though, and this novel left me thinking and processing the story for hours after finishing; it’s beautifully written and a masterpiece, and if it means Henry is pushing into other genres eventually, I’m all for it.