Thank you Scribner, #partner for the advanced copy of The Top of the World in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Scribner
Published: June 30, 2026
Summary:
A heartbreaking, life-affirming new novel by Ethan Joella—author of the Read with Jenna Bonus Pick A Little Hope—about a young woman searching for answers about her brother’s last days.
June 1975. Maggie Bishop has just graduated high school, the future hers to embrace—but she’s still reeling from the death of her older brother, Chip. A devastating diagnosis the summer before prompted Chip to leave home for a few months, never revealing where he went. Maggie’s search for clues leads her to The Red Maple Inn, a mountaintop resort in the Poconos.
At the Red Maple, Maggie is welcomed into a tight-knit community. As she unravels secrets about her brother’s final days, she begins to connect with the people he loved, and whose lives he touched. Through the warmth of strangers, Maggie begins to heal and is able to help others cope with loss.
Set in a nostalgic resort town over two transformative summers, this dual-narrative novel explores sibling relationships, coming of age, and the quiet power of human connection. Perfect for fans of emotional storytelling and small-town summer books, The Top of the World is a timeless story about memory, grief, second chances, and hope.
My thoughts:
I have been a fan of Ethan Joella’s books since his debut and with each one I read, I fall more in love with his writing. They just resonate so emotionally with me, and this one just might be my new favorite!
There’s something so special about the stories that this author pens. Grief seems to be a major theme and yet, there is always a sense of hope woven throughout. He always manages to tug at those heartstrings in all the ways possible. I picked this book up, thinking I would take my time with it and found myself so invested with the characters and what was going on that I could not put it down and as much as I wanted to savor this story, I flew through it in one afternoon.
I love the messages that are woven throughout this book – that grief never really leaves us and how we learn to move on while still carrying that person with us. But the ways the characters learn these lessons, the way their journeys take them down certain paths to get the answers they need is both heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once.
I fully admit there were times I was reading this with tears streaming down my face…but then a few pages later, I was smiling. It’s an emotional read for sure, and one I will not be forgetting any time soon!
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