I’ll Always Carry You

A Spark Of Light by Jodi Picoult is a contemporary novel set in a women’s clinic. It concerns the themes of pro-life and pro-choice. I found it a difficult read because the unborn babies have no choice, they are at the mercy of their mother’s choices.

I think Jodi Picoult is an excellent author and I always enjoy her books with their twists that I never spot coming! A Spark Of Light was excellently written but it was a hard read for me.

The plotline is brilliantly constructed as the novel opens and then works backwards in time so we can see what caused the characters to make the decisions they made. The story does come full circle with the epilogue at the end.

As always, Jodi Picoult has created a marvellous mix of characters. The novel celebrates the father daughter bond. Some characters go to extraordinary lengths to protect their daughters.

A Spark Of Light was well written and clearly thoroughly researched. I found the topic very upsetting but I recognise that it is a tale that Jodi Picoult wanted to tell. Had I realised quite the nature of the subject matter, I am not sure I would have picked the book up because I did find it upsetting. Having said all that, Jodi Picoult is an excellent author who writes in such a way that I really did emotionally connect with the book and produced such a strong response to it. I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

JULIA WILSON