A Spark Of Light

By Jodi Picoult, Hodder & Stoughton, £16.99

Review by Daisy Buchanan

A Spark Of Light is Jodi Picoult’s 24th novel and the first by her that I’ve ever read.

I guess I was expecting Picoult to be a Stephen King of the emotions and an unnamed prejudice made me suspect that her books might favour plot over prose.

I’m very sorry I waited to meet Picoult and I’m so glad to have found her.

The story is told in real time, but backwards; a startlingly effective framing device, as its texture and tone take on a greater weight than the events it is comprised of.

It’s the story of The Centre, the only women’s health clinic in Mississippi where it’s possible to obtain legal abortions.

Fifteen-year-old Wren has been brought to the clinic for birth control pills, accompanied by her artist aunt, Bex, when a gunman breaks in and takes the staff and patients hostage.

Everyone in the clinic has a story, a voice and a different, compelling reason to be there.

Even the gunman, George Goddard, is drawn with humanity and complexity.

In a lesser writer’s hands, A Spark Of Light could simply be a pacy page-turner, but Picoult’s timing is a Brechtian masterstroke.

A Spark Of Light is about love and pain, but Picoult never tells you how to feel.

She simply explores and promotes the link between intelligence and empathy.

I think she’s a writer the world needs to be reading right now.