A Spark of Light, Jodi Picoult
A Spark of Light, Jodi Picoult
122 Rating(s)
List: $25.00 | Sale: $16.50
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A Spark of Light

Bestseller

Author: Jodi Picoult

Narrator: Bahni Turpin, Jodi Picoult

Unabridged: 13 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/02/2018


Synopsis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of Small Great Things returns with a powerful and provocative novel about ordinary lives that intersect during a heart-stopping crisis.

Look for Jodi Picoult’s new novel, By Any Other Name, available now!

“Picoult at her fearless best . . . Timely, balanced and certain to inspire debate.”—The Washington Post

The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.

After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order to save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester, disguised as a patient, who now stands in the crosshairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

Told in a daring and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hours of the standoff, this is a story that traces its way back to what brought each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fateful day.

One of the most fearless writers of our time, Jodi Picoult tackles a complicated issue in this gripping and nuanced novel. How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent? A Spark of Light will inspire debate, conversation . . . and, hopefully, understanding.

Praise for A Spark of Light

“This is Jodi Picoult at her best: tackling an emotional hot-button issue and putting a human face on it.”—People

“Told backward and hour by hour, Jodi Picoult’s compelling narrative deftly explores controversial social issues.”—Us Weekly

About Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is an American novelist born in Nesconset, Long Island, New York. She has had a very diversified career with her education in writing being received at Princeton University. She had a variety of jobs ranging from writing short stories when still in college for Seventeen magazine and editing text books, to becoming the writer of the DC Comics Wonder Woman (Vol. 3), issue #6 in March 2007 and #10 in June of 2007.

Picoult’s first novel, Nineteen Minutes, about a school shooting in a small town became #1 on the NY Times Bestseller List. Then her second novel also debuted #1, entitled Change of the Heart. In 2009 her novel, My Sister’s Keeper was adapted to a featured film.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Emily May on October 11, 2018

She wondered if the only way any of us can find what we stand for is by first locating what we stand against. I got a really pleasant surprise a couple of years ago when I picked up Small Great Things on a whim and discovered that Picoult is actually much more vicious and hard-hitting than I'd ex......more

Goodreads review by Kylie on August 13, 2019

I tried to like this book, I really did, but I found it to be preachy and boring as batshit. I kept finding excuses to put it down and not get back to it, which is unlike me. The reverse chronology of the chapters I found to be disjointed and annoying, and because of this I couldn't connect with any......more

Goodreads review by Deanna on March 17, 2020

My reviews can also be seen at: [URL not allowed] As soon as I see that a new Jodi Picoult book is going to be released, I can't wait to read it. But as much as I wanted to drag out this novel and make it last, I couldn’t stop reading. I had to find out how it all began…and ho......more

Goodreads review by Debra on July 09, 2018

"Today, Wren McElroy thought, was not a good day to die." This book begins with a hostage situation at the local Center. The Center is a place for women (and teens) to go and get birth control, have gynecological examinations, and obtain abortions. It is known as a woman's reproductive health service......more

Goodreads review by Angela M on October 05, 2018

3.5 rounded up. Jodie Picoult is a prolific writer, and if you’ve read any of her books, you know she confronts head on some tough, controversial and always relevant issues. This one couldn’t be more timely with this predominantly conservative Supreme Court we will more than likely have, who could po......more


Quotes

“Picoult at her fearless best . . . Timely, balanced and certain to inspire debate.”The Washington Post

“This is Jodi Picoult at her best: tackling an emotional hot-button issue and putting a human face on it.”People

“Told backward and hour by hour, Jodi Picoult’s compelling narrative deftly explores controversial social issues.”Us Weekly

“Thoroughly realistic storytelling . . . Picoult has achieved what politicians across the spectrum have not been able to: humanized a hot-button issue. Excellent for book clubs, this should also be considered for discussions in critical thinking and political debate.”Library Journal (starred review)

“The author presents the white-knuckled narrative in a reverse-chronological order. The effect is mesmerizing, as Picoult establishes moments in the overarching event, before revealing how they came to be.”Houston Chronicle

“Picoult delivers another riveting yarn . . . in this carefully crafted, utterly gripping tale.”Booklist (starred review)

“An important and thoughtful read that is perfect for book clubs looking for deep conversations.”PopSugar
 
“Novels such as this . . . are necessary”Kirkus Reviews