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(as of Feb 06, 2025 15:16:16 UTC – Details)
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of Small Great Things returns with a powerful and provocative new novel about ordinary lives that intersect during a heart-stopping crisis.
“Picoult at her fearless best . . . Timely, balanced and certain to inspire debate.”—The Washington Post
Look for Jodi Picoult’s new novel, By Any Other Name, available now!
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.
Look in the back of the book for reader’s discussion questions and a conversation with Jodi Picoult.
From the Publisher
![Booklist (starred review) says, “Riveting… [a] carefully crafted, utterly gripping tale.”](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/aplus-media-library-service-media/72f2d72e-e412-493b-ae69-f06b1eaffc26.__CR0,0,300,300_PT0_SX300_V1___.jpg)
Publisher : Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (September 24, 2019)
Language : English
Paperback : 400 pages
ISBN-10 : 0345545001
ISBN-13 : 978-0345545008
Lexile measure : HL790L
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 5.4 x 0.81 x 8.2 inches
Customers say
Customers find the story well-told and relevant. They find the facts enlightening and thought-provoking. However, some readers found the book confusing and repetitive, making it hard to follow. Others found it boring and not memorable like some of Picoult’s other books. The pacing was also criticised as inconsistent and jumping around. Opinions are mixed on the character development, with some finding them well-developed and others finding them stereotyped.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
