The Next Person You Meet in Heaven

“Annie never thought about heaven. But heaven is always thinking about us. . . .” Fifteen years ago, Mitch Albom’s beloved number one bestseller, The Five People You Meet in Heaven,
captivated millions of readers with a fictional tale of the afterlife and how it answers all our earthly questions. In that book, Eddie, a grizzled war veteran turned amusement park mechanic, dies saving a young girl named Annie from a tragic accident. Although he felt his life was meaningless on earth, Eddie learns from five people in heaven how much his—and every life—matters. Now, in this long-awaited sequel, Mitch Albom reveals Annie’s story, and what happened next. The accident that killed Eddie left an indelible mark on Annie, too. It took her left hand, which needed to be surgically reattached. Injured, scarred, and unable to remember what happened, Annie 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. She feels everything she does is a mistake. When, as a young woman, she reconnects with Paulo, her childhood love, she believes she has finally found happiness. But, as the novel opens, Annie is marrying Paulo, and her wedding night ends in an unimaginable tragedy. Annie is whisked into her own heavenly journey—and into an inevitable reunion with Eddie, one of five people who will show her how her earthly life touched others in ways she could not have fathomed. Poignant, beautifully crafted, and filled with unexpected twists, The Next Person You Meet in Heaven reminds us once again that all endings are beginnings—we only need to open our eyes to experience them.

Mitch Albom is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, which have collectively sold forty-two million copies in forty-eight languages worldwide. He has written eight number-one New York Times bestsellers—including Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time—award-winning television 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. He founded the nonprofit SAY Detroit, which provides pathways to success for Detroiters in need through major health, housing and education initiatives. He also founded a dessert shop and a gourmet popcorn line to help fund it. Albom operates Have Faith Haiti, a home and school for impoverished children and orphans in Port-au-Prince, which he visits monthly. He lives with his wife, Janine, in Michigan.