Plain Truth

Author:  Jodi Picoult

Published by Washington Square Press a Division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Pages:  405

Reader's Group Discussion Included

"The discovery of a dead infant in an Amish barn shakes Lancaster Country to its core.  But the police investigation leads to a more shocking disclosure; circumstantial evidence suggests that eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the newborn's mother, took the child's life.  When Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned big-city attorney, comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania, to defend Katie, two cultures collide-and for the first time in her high-profile career, Ellie faces a system of justice very different from her own.  Delving deep inside the world of those who live "plain", Ellie must find a way to reach Katie on her terms.  And as she unravels a tangled murder case, Ellie also looks deep within-to confront her own fears and desires when a man from her past re-enters her life."  (from the back cover of Plain Truth)

Well-written and captivating, this novel is the first of Jodi Picoult's that I have read.  Plain Truth holds your attention, draws the reader in and is hard to put down.  The characters are well-developed, and the lifestyle and culture of the Amish are well-portrayed.  The author did, after all, spend a week living with an Amish family, participating in chores and living as they do.  Not easily forgotten, this novel may enlist the reader in a quest to simplify their own lives and question their perspectives.  Not a bad thing.

Rated 3.5/5

*As administrator of a local Christian book club, I read this as a possible book of the month.  Though the author does an excellent job of drawing the reader in, I was not impressed with the explicit sex included in a couple areas within this novel.  As such, based upon language and sexual content, we cannot include this as a suggested read for discussion. 

Does popular fiction need to bridge the gap between moral and immoral to be popular? Perhaps books should have a labelling system similar to that of movies.  PG, R, General based upon content.  It would make things simpler when selecting books for discussion.  This reader intends to read another of Jodi Picoult's novels, My Sister's Keeper.  Hopefully the content will be agreeable for our group as a future read.