This is the question at the centre of Harvesting the heart, by Jodi Picoult which I read as an audiobook. We open with Paige trying desperately to catch a glimpse of her son and estranged husband through the window of what used to be her home. What follows is her journey to that point and beyond. Paige was abandoned by her mother when she was five, but adores her inventor father who then brought her up single-handed. Aged 17, she runs away from home, abandoning her hopes of attending art school, but too ashamed of her recent actions and unable to face her father. She ends up working in a diner, where she meets, falls for and marries an ambitious young doctor who couldn't have had a more different upbringing. Delirously happy until the birth of her son, she becomes untethered by exhaustion and overwhelmed by memories of her mother, and starts to convince herself that she is set to repeat the mistakes of her own mother. Can she reconcile herself with her past and find her way back to her husband and child and convince them that no matter what has happened, her love for them is strong enough to bring a reconciliation and get their lives back on track? Jodi Picoult is an author who tackles difficult issues, often using unsympathetic characters, but her skill as an author is to keep you following their story and try to put yourself in their shoes and ask the question ... so what would you do? I think you either love her books or hate them. I'm in the former category. Sometimes a hard read, but always interesting, this edition was helped hugely by having a female and male narrator, flipping the viewpoint between Paige and her husband. Time with this book is time well spent.
My STAR rating: FOUR
Length: 512 print pages.
Price I paid: £5.99 (Audible)
Other formats available in: print; audio CD; ebook.
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