Handle with care

Jodi Picoult's latest book deals with ethical and social issues revolving around the birth of a child born with with a disability. Willow has OI (Osteogenesis Imperfecta) - brittle bones. At birth a number of her bones were broken and broken bones were a constant part of her life placing a strain on family members emotionally as well as financially.

When Willow was five Charlotte (Willow's mother) started legal proceedings against Piper Reece (her obstetrician) for not recognising the early symptoms of OI and therefore preventing Charlotte having the choice to terminate the pregnancy. The repercussions of Charlotte's actions are told by those most affected - Charlotte, Sean (her husband), Amelia (Willow's sister), Piper who had been Charlotte's best friend, Marin (Charlotte's lawyer). Each character addresses Willow when recounting what is occurring. The last episode belongs to Willow.

Disintegration of relationships, living with community reaction, trying to do something for the best reasons (in this case creating a secure future for her daughter), blame, guilt, ethics of abortion, strain of disability on family members including concentration on the needs of one family member to the detriment of siblings are some of the issues covered in this novel.

Other novels by Jodi Picoult with medical ethics themes include Change of Heart (a convicted murderer wants his heart donated to the sister of the child who was killed) and My Sister's Keeper (a family has another child in order to save the life of a child).

Jodi Picoult also wrote a novel, about a school shooting where a teenage boy kills nine students and a teacher. The Nineteen Minutes in the title refers to the time taken to execute the killings. 

Another of Jodie Picoult's novels that I read around the same time was The Tenth Circle about the rape of a fourteen year old girl and the affect this has on members of her family and friends. 

I respect Jodie Picoult for writing about social issues. However after reading several of her novels in a short period of time I decided that I had had enough and did not need to read anymore at that time.