Not for the first time, New York Times Bestselling Author Jodi Picoult has presented readers with a moral question that is raised in one of her books.
In her latest novel, A Spark of Light, published Oct. 2, 2018, the issue of a woman’s right to choose is brought up. The story centers on a shooting at an abortion clinic in Mississippi known as The Center. A man named George Goddard opened fire late morning, killing several of The Center’s staff and patients and injuring a handful of others, too.
A Spark of Light begins at 5 p.m. on the day of the shooting, which happened late that morning. As each chapter progresses, the story flashes back an hour and we learn how the characters got to where they were at 5 p.m.
A Spark of Light follows 10 major characters in all: Wren, who is at The Center with her Aunt Bex in order to obtain birth control; Bex, Wren’s Aunt, who accompanied her niece to The Center and is severely injured in the shooting; Hugh, Wren’s father, who is the hostage negotiator assigned to defuse the situation at The Center and realizes to his horror that his daughter and sister are in The Center; George, the shooter, who has a strong personal motive for his actions; Beth, a young woman who attempted to get an abortion at The Center, but couldn’t get parental consent in time and took drastic measures to end her pregnancy, leading to a devastating consequence; Olive, an elderly patient at The Center who receives some difficult news about her health just before the shooting occurs; Joy, a patient at The Center; Janine, an anti-abortion protester who is undercover in The Center hoping to “get dirt” on the staff; Louie, the on-duty provider during the shooting who performs the procedures because of his faith, not in spite of it; Izzy, a nurse in The Center who is pregnant and who has to work quickly to save those who are injured.
The unique storytelling of traveling back in time an hour with each chapter makes A Spark of Light compelling on its own. Readers already know what has happened to the characters as the timeline goes back an hour, but they hunger to know what led up to those events at 5 p.m. Picoult also leaves readers desperate to get to the epilogue quickly when she ends the 5 p.m. chapter on a cliffhanger before flashing back to 4 p.m.
As she always does in her books, Picoult presents both sides of the moral question of the story with honesty and integrity. All of the characters have their reasons for being in The Center and it’s not clear, even as the story goes on, who the reader should have more sympathy for; in truth, all of the characters deserve some sympathy, even George, whose extreme actions resulted in the deaths of several characters.
Like any good journalist would, Picoult presents both sides of the argument without telling the reader which side they should pick. Instead, Picoult portrays both sides equally and deeply explains why each character thinks the way they do. She also shows readers that there is so much more to people than what we first see: they all have their own stories, their own struggles and triumphs, their own feelings of love, sadness, joy, fear and more, and for that alone, people deserve sympathy and don’t deserve to be demonized simply for not agreeing with everyone else.
Regardless if you consider yourself pro-life or pro-choice, or whatever term you prefer to use, A Spark of Light will allow you to examine why you feel the way you do and why someone with the opposite view feels the way they do. The book is shorter than Picoult’s other works, but just as compelling and gritty, tugging at all of the heartstrings as the story goes on. Read and enjoy.
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