Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult.

I love to talk books.  I love it when I find myself in good conversation with someone in which we name-drop various books and discover that we share a taste in novels.  The last time I had such a conversation was with my aunt Marilyn.  Marilyn lives in China but I had the joy of visiting with her this past spring when she and my uncle came home for a short stay.

My aunt is pretty special to me.  She has always encouraged my independence (she bought me my first alarm clock when she learned that, as a high school junior, I still relied on my mother to wake me up) and my passions (she has always been vocal in her support of my nearly lifelong dream of being a writer).

On account of my book talk with Marilyn, I have recently found myself somewhat obsessed with author Jodi Picoult.  I have read five of her eighteen books in the past six weeks (I attempted a sixth, Picoult's Keeping Faith, but it did not woo me the way in which the others did.  I gave up on it when I stopped caring enough to pick it up off my nightstand.)  My obsession began when my aunt recommended Picoult's Sing You Home.  It only took a few pages for me to be really hooked (as in I-can't-wait-to-put-my-daughter-to-bed-so-I-can-go-read hooked).  Sing You Home was an emotionally charged tale blending the often opposing and always divisive issues of gay rights and religion (with a dash of reproductive science just in case there wasn't already enough controversy).

Sing You Home is Zoe's story.  Zoe has spent years chasing her dream of having a baby with a seemingly supportive and equally desirous husband - Max - by her side.  When their long desired pregnancy ends in tragedy, Zoe is left shattered and empty.  As she attempts to pick up the pieces and find the courage to try again, she is blindsided by Max's confession that he doesn't want to try for another baby.  He doesn't want to try for another baby and, instead, he'd like a divorce.

Jodi Picoult writes deliciously fat novels.  As such, at this point in Sing You Home, so much had already happened but so much more still lay ahead.  As Zoe begins her post-Max life, she finds herself falling in love again with perhaps the least likely of people.  As a result, Zoe inadvertently finds herself and her new life under the microscope and under attack.  Through a series of somewhat unexpected actions, Picoult weaves an engaging story of love, betrayal, and hope, as seen through the eyes of a gay couple unwittingly thrust in to the spotlight, a confused and bitter alcoholic, and the outspoken, bandstanding pastor of a Christian church.

I love that Picoult took on such contentious, relevant topics in this book.  I think that is why she has become one of my favorite authors.  It is not easy to write about topics that turn heads.  And yet an author who only speaks of safe topics will never encourage or force their audience to really think.  I love that Picoult does not shy away from the challenging plot and I loved Sing You Home.