Great Big Beautiful Life
Great Big Beautiful Life is Emily Henry’s most ambitious and unique stand-alone novel yet. The story follows Alice Scott, a journalist on the rise, and Hayden Anderson, an award-winning writer, as they fight for the chance to work with Margaret Ives, a famous figure who has been hiding from the world for many years. Over the course of one month, Alice and Hayden will vie for Margaret’s favor while navigating an NDA and their feelings for one another, in a rivals-to-lovers story with a surprising familial twist.
Henry’s characters always possess at least one relatable flaw that they must face before the end. Alice, the devout optimist champing at the bit to kickstart her career and beat Hayden out of the gig, has a complicated relationship with her mother that makes her feel like she doesn’t measure up. Hayden, the arrogant go-getter who believes he’s a shoo-in for the job, struggles with protecting his self-image after an unwanted and very public upbringing. From the beginning, you know there’s something beneath Alice’s bubbly nature and constant jabs, and something behind Hayden’s stern facade and reserved personality, but the common thread is that they are both complex people who deserve love and acceptance.
I have come to expect and love the banter between Henry’s main characters in all of her stories, all the witty exchanges that hold varying levels of harmless and hidden meaning. I always laugh when Alice poses silly questions with serious curiosity and when Hayden struggles to understand why Alice is so positive about literally everything. I also adore the small coastal-town setting, where they constantly and unexpectedly run into each other while actively trying to avoid one another, in a place where everybody knows everybody and everyone hangs out at the same bar every day. It’s a perfect recipe for hilarious disaster and beautiful reconciliations every time.
Henry also explores the complex nature of family dynamics. Alice is in denial about her relationship with her mother, Hayden conceals the truth about his upbringing and his desire to break away from it, and Margaret struggles to accept whether she made the right choices in her life. Margaret’s past becomes a mystery that Alice and Hayden are determined to solve, and I love seeing who she was through the stories she tells, and who she has become as an old woman living in secret. One of my favorite scenes is when Margaret shows Alice old newspaper headlines and what they said about her:
“When you don’t have the people who love you around, reminding you who you are, that story feels bigger and realer than anything else. You lose yourself inside the character with your name and face” (Henry, 374).
This is the first book Henry has written where the romance element almost takes a backseat in order to explore the complexity of family ties. Among the many important lessons is one about internal and external narratives. Sometimes, we find it difficult to bear the truth of our own story. Other times, we can’t accept that someone else’s story is not ours to tell. Each character must choose how to face their past, themselves, and their complicated relationships—familial or otherwise—and they have to figure out how to deal with the trials and tribulations of attempting to do so.
Great Big Beautiful Life is about the truths and lies we tell. It’s about love and what we would give for it. It’s about how true love endures, and how it’s always worth fighting for in the end, for ourselves and for the people we care about, an idea best described in Alice’s own words:
“It’s a love story . . . That’s what always matters most to me, about any interview subject: Whom do you love? What makes your heart beat? For whom would you unmake the world, and how would you build a new one? We tell the truth, mostly” (Henry, 414).
I took my time with this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The payoff at the end is very much worth the wait, and it goes beyond the expected but always welcome and worthwhile rom-com finale. Henry explores and portrays a concept that rings true, flaws and all, one that stayed with me long after I finished reading. If you enjoy stories about the fear and sacrifice, the love and hope, and the happiness and joy that we suffer and celebrate as human beings—and all the things that make life great, big and beautiful—you will love this book.
Reference
Henry, Emily. Great Big Beautiful Life. Berkley, 2025.