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: #723 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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From AudioFile
Picoult's story tackles a triple-whammy of hot-button issues--the death penalty, bioethics, and religious freedom. Shay, a condemned inmate--who, incidentally, exhibits a striking resemblance to the new Messiah--wishes to donate his heart to the sister of his murder victim after he is executed. A mesmerizing page-turner, CHANGE OF HEART examines the topic of religious dogma against the plight of a child's struggle with life and death. In an inspired editorial choice for full-cast narration, Nicole Poole, Stafford Clark-Price, James Frangione, Danielle Ferland, and Jennifer Ikeda expertly portray the novel's tangle of moral dilemmas from individual perspectives--and skillfully employ at least four other voices each. Ferland is especially memorable as the spirited and sarcastic Maggie, Shay's ACLU attorney. A.W. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

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

Customer Reviews

Too predictable & too unoriginal.
I couldn't wait for this book to come out & had such high hopes for it. The topic seemed intriguing to me, but ultimately the author seemed to rely too much on her established formula, and did not bother to use any originality in the writing of this text.

I absolutely loved Sister's Keeper, but haven't been too thrilled with Jodi Picoult's other books I've read since then (Nineteen Minutes was just OK but had a rather poor ending, and Keeping Faith was predictable and had poorly developed characters for whom I could not develop any significant feelings). I am sad to say that this was, by far, Ms. Picoult's worst work; so predictable that, by less than a third of the way through it, I started flipping through the remainder of the pages just to confirm my suspicions (and was even more disappointed to discover I was correct in every one). In addition, like others have mentioned, Shay Bourne's character has too many similarities to the main character from The Green Mile (note: I have only seen the movie). I decided not to waste my time even finishing this book, due to its high degree of predictability and low degree of creativity and originality (both in terms of plot and character development).

Overall, Change of Heart is a most disappointing effort by Ms. Picoult, and I recommend saving your dollars for a better read. At this time, I am reading The Pact, which I purchased at the same time as Change of Heart...I do hope it lives up to the precedence set by Sister's Keeper. The outcome of this read will determine if I will purchase any other Picoult books in the future, or if the success of Sister's Keeper was simply a fluke for this author. Perhaps it is time for me to return to my all-time favorite author, Robin Cook, and give Jodi Picoult a chance to regain her zest for writing.

Intriguing.
This is another good Jodi Picoult book. I have read most of her novels and enjoy each one for her ability to give us interesting characters and hot-button issues that get us, her readers, to think about things in a new light. This book is no exception.

Shay is a man on death row who is waiting to be executed for the killing of a police officer and his daughter. June, the mother of the child who was killed and now a widow, has another daughter who has serious heart problems. Shay offers to give up his heart once he is executed, however he will need to die by another means and not by lethal injection which is where the lawyer, Maggie, enters into the picture.

One of the interesting concepts in this story is that Shay does not appear to be just another inmate. He seems to be able to perform miracles as in making another inmate's HIV disappear, bringing a bird back to life, etc. Is he truly the Messiah or is this all a scam to try and prolong his life?

This book explores religious themes, relationships between mothers and daughters, the death penalty and what it truly means to have a heart.

A page turner.
I enjoyed this book. It brings up the issue of the death penalty with a twist or two. I loved the character of Maggie. She seemed to develop most in the story. I loved the way it all played out. I didn't give it 5 stars because of the VERY obvious elements taken (stolen?) from Stephen Kings Green Mile. I mean common. A convicted child murderer performing miricles and making the ultimate sacrifice, the bird, the practice runs. I also felt the story was a bit predictable. No real surprises at the end but I liked the way it was ended. Over all it was a good story and I enjoyed it.