Hello Beautiful

At the core of Hello Beautiful is a celebration of the bonds of sisterhood. This is expressed in myriad ways, including major plot points, such as the twins’ shared super-duplex and the reconciliation between Julia and Sylvie. It’s also expressed through allusions to Little Women and Napolitano’s references to Walt Whitman’s poetry. Alcott’s novel and Whitman’s transcendentalism explore the way that emotional bonds can defy physical boundaries and enter a spiritual realm. Nicole Bauer, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Tulsa, writes, “Whitman’s expanded sense of self led him to identify and feel at one with the world, to sense that he was both himself and every person he met, that he, and everyone else, contains multitudes” (“Containing Multitudes: Towards a Wider Sense of Self and Compassion.” Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, 3 Nov. 2021). Similarly, the Padavano sisters feel that they are interconnected with one another even when time and space separate them.

As girls, the Padavanos grow up with their lives completely intertwined. They frequently pile into the same bed, their bodies fitting like puzzle pieces across the mattress. This physical closeness represents something deeper, a feeling that they are part of a larger unit: “[T]he four Padavano girls shared their lives, celebrating and utilizing one another’s strengths, covering for one another’s weaknesses” (98).