Picoult rarely strays from tackling difficult subjects in her novels and this latest offering is no exception.
Ruth Jefferson is a nurse on a maternity ward in a hospital in Connecticut, who finds herself relieved from her duties when she goes to check on a new-born. The parents are white supremacists who have taken exception to the fact she is African-American and refuse to allow her to care for their child. The following day, the infant goes into cardiac arrest and Ruth is the only person present. Does she intervene or comply with the parents’ request?
What follows is a thrilling legal case as Ruth finds herself imprisoned, charged with a crime only she knows whether she committed. When she is told by her white attorney, Kennedy McQuarrie, that mentioning the race issue in court is not likely to pay dividends, Ruth is placed in an almost impossible situation.
An impeccable narrative which tackles a raft of thorny issues and challenges the reader to consider the key themes of race, justice, privilege and prejudice, this is Picoult at her very best.
A real page-turner!
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