| Cancer. A dreaded word for anybody at any age. | | | | chance, the book takes an unexpected turn. Enter |
| What happens when cancer strikes a young girl | | | | Campbell the lawyer with a secret of his own and |
| and a family has to cope with the illness and the | | | | the court-appointed Julia who has to independently |
| terrible sacrifices that it demands of its family | | | | ascertain Anna's best interests. |
| members. For Sara Fitzgerald, the choice is very | | | | The book is a riveting tale of childhood disease, |
| clear. As a mother she will do anything to keep | | | | filial responsibility, sibling rivalry and the means that |
| her two year old daughter, Kate, alive when she | | | | modern technology have given us of meeting |
| is diagnosed with leukemia. And if this includes | | | | some of those challenges. Jodi Picoult manages to |
| producing another baby to help keep Kate alive, | | | | get under the skin of all her characters in her |
| so be it then. The father in the book, Brian, is | | | | usual mesmerizing way. We feel with all of them; |
| calm and level-headed. He knows that Kate will die | | | | indeed, we feel for all of them. Yet we are |
| unless their designer baby, Anna, provides Kate | | | | divided till the end. We sympathize with both sides |
| with what she needs. Sara cannot see beyond | | | | and can feel the pain and anguish of both parties. |
| Kate. The elder son, Jesse, is a disturbed child | | | | It is to Picoult's credit that our interest does not |
| who resents the demands made on his parents | | | | flag till the end. As for the end, well, it wrenches |
| by his sick sister and takes to arson. This is his | | | | your heart to read it. Read this book and it |
| secret way of rebelling against his fire-fighter | | | | changes your perspective on cancer patients and |
| father. When Anna is old enough and she is asked | | | | their carers. |
| to donate a kidney so that Kate has a fighting | | | | |