Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult FIC Pic

I have read all of Picoult's books (some more than once) and she is one of my favorite authors.  Her characters always have such depth.  Her themes always make me think - sometimes about society and sometimes about what I would do in such a circumstance and sometimes questioning if I did or said things in my own past that showed a lack of understanding of others. This book will certainly make everyone think about racism in this country. In the back of the book she writes about how difficult this book was for her to write.  I would recommend that you read that first for a bit of background.

Her storytelling was prompted by an article about a white supremacist who asked a nursing supervisor not to let any African-American nurses touch his new baby.  The woman in question had twenty years of experience in the field but that didn't matter to him.  In this book that woman's name is Ruth.  Unlike in the article, Ruth ends up in the nursery with the new baby and there is a medical emergency.   She finds herself on trial for the baby's death.  The story is told from many points of view but mostly by Ruth, the white supremacist and the public defender who takes Ruth's case.

 At times the book made me uncomfortable as I saw life and society from the perspective of Ruth and of her son.  I think it is an important book.  As always there is a twist at the end that I didn't see coming.  Read it!

Click for availability.