Genre: Fiction
An 18 year old unmarried Amish woman, Katie Fisher, is accused of smothering her infant right after his birth. However, Katie denies the crime. In fact, she denies that she was ever pregnant. All the medical evidence points to her having a child, but Katie continues to deny it.
Attorney Ellie Hathaway is intrigued by this case and, at the same time, disgusted that a mother could kill her child. She wonders how she can defend this young woman of such a hideous crime, but Katie grabs Ellie’s heart and the lawyer is convinced she didn’t commit this evil act and she intends to prove it. First, she must get Katie to admit she was pregnant in the first place.
Katie is placed under Ellie’s guardianship which means Ellie has to live on the Fisher’s Amish farm. She becomes immersed in their way of life. Proving Katie’s innocence is more difficult than Ellie thought it would be as Katie strictly adheres to the Amish belief that she confess to the crime, even if she didn’t do it. It’s an uphill battle that Ellie vows to win.
I listened to the audio version of this and was totally captivated by this story. The storyline moved along at a fast pace. It had everything from romance to drama to betrayal to mystery. Ms. Picoult gives us a good taste of the Amish way of life. The reader feels as if they are right in the middle of it all. The characters are realistic and readers will come to care about them. I will definitely be adding Ms. Picoult to one of those “must read” authors.
Sounds great, but I have a hard time for injustice, and if she is really innocent and is the be imprisoned, I just get so upset. Silly me
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't get quite that far and for most of the book, we really aren't sure if she did it or not.
ReplyDeleteThis is my first and only attempt at audio book. I just couldn't get into by listening to it. I will definitely get around to reading it at some point.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this book. There's a movie too based on the book although it might have just been one of those made for tv movies. It starred Mariska from Law & Order in it. It was quite good and followed the book pretty well too if I remember right. It's been years since I've seen it.
ReplyDeleteScrap girl - There are some books that just work better for me in print and others are okay in audio. This was a good audio for me, but I just tried listening to a Jane Austen book and I couldn't get into it. I'm going to try and get a print copy to read.
ReplyDeleteDar - I heard about the movie. I think it was a TV movie and I'm hoping they will rerun it again.
I like Picoult but must read her books with LOTS of time between them, otherwise they are too similar.
ReplyDelete