Product Description

The acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author presents a spellbinding tale of a mother's tragic loss and one man's last chance at gaining salvation.

Can we save ourselves, or do we rely on others to do it? Is what we believe always the truth?

One moment June Nealon was happily looking forward to years full of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time to heal her wounds, waiting for justice. In short, waiting for a miracle to happen.

For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, something happens that changes everything for him. Now, he has one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June's eleven-year-old daughter, Claire. But between Shay and Claire stretches an ocean of bitter regrets, past crimes, and the rage of a mother who has lost her child.

Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy's dying wish?

Once again, Jodi Picoult mesmerizes and enthralls readers with this story of redemption, justice, and love.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20602 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 464 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Picoult bangs out another ripped-from-the-zeitgeist winner, this time examining a condemned inmate's desire to be an organ donor. Freelance carpenter Shay Bourne was sentenced to death for killing a little girl, Elizabeth Nealon, and her cop stepfather. Eleven years after the murders, Elizabeth's sister, Claire, needs a heart transplant, and Shay volunteers, which complicates the state's execution plans. Meanwhile, death row has been the scene of some odd events since Shay's arrival—an AIDS victim goes into remission, an inmate's pet bird dies and is brought back to life, wine flows from the water faucets. The author brings other compelling elements to an already complex plot line: the priest who serves as Shay's spiritual adviser was on the jury that sentenced him; Shay's ACLU representative, Maggie Bloom, balances her professional moxie with her negative self-image and difficult relationship with her mother. Picoult moves the story along with lively debates about prisoner rights and religion, while plumbing the depths of mother-daughter relationships and examining the literal and metaphorical meanings of having heart. The point-of-view switches are abrupt, but this is a small flaw in an impressive book. 1,000,000-million copy first printing.(Mar.)
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Review
"Picoult is a rare writer who delivers book after book, a winning combination of the literary and the commercial." --Entertainment Weekly

Review
"Picoult is a rare writer who delivers book after book, a winning combination of the literary and the commercial." -- Entertainment Weekly

Customer Reviews

A Heart Aching Page-Turner
I read this book in record time, 2 days-while on a Disney World vacation with my husband. I read it while waiting in line for rides...when I should have been enjoying the scenery of Disney and my husband's company. Well, then HE picked up the book and couldn't put it down....he is a physician and a very spiritual man, very knowledgable about the Bible and about religion, it's very intriguing to him. WE highly recommend it.

Only mildly interesting read
I'm not much of a Jody Picoult fan and this book confirms it for me. I totally agree about the similarity of this book to the Green Mile. At one point Shay is even called Green Mile by one of the other inmates. In both books a gentle, somehow mentally disabled, kind hearted person is wrongfully accused of murdering a child when in reality he was trying to save the child. This person is also able to conduct miracles, including saving the jailhouse pet of one of the more hardened criminals, and declines to save himself from the death penalty even though other people figure out he is not guilty. How much more similar can the basic plots be?
The only reason I give the book two stars instead of one is due to the attempt to show different sides of the death penalty issue with the Jewish/Christian characters, who were somewhat interesting.
I too figured out the twist less than half way through the book and was also annoyed by the sheer number of coincidences in the book (poor June loses one husband in a car crash, another is murdered, her child is murdered, her daughter needs a heart transplate AND the only person is can donate is the man who she thinks murdered her other child. The priest in the story was on the jury to convict Shay.)
And what happened during those 9 years while Claire was growing up? Was Shay doing miracles then? Do we believe that the gorgeous British doctor really would fall in love with Maggie who obviously has a real lack of self confidence? Nah.
The death penalty discussions are interesting but other than that the book is very weak.

Powerful and thought-provoking
I've read many of Jodi Picoult's books, but this one grabbed me from the beginning and never let go. It's not really a story about people--the characters are far less developed than the concepts. But for those who are interested in the big questions that are raised in the book (concerning issues of religious beliefs and spirituality, the separation of church and state, etc.), it reads like a well-researched and provocative parable; the characters are simply vehicles through which larger ideas are expressed. I thought it was brilliant.