"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.”
Jodi Picoult’s latest novel tackles race relations, family, prejudice and tolerance in this legal drama that hits the reader like a punch to the gut. Small Great Things is a brilliant and extremely relevant novel that hooks the reader from the first few pages.
Ruth Jefferson is a tenured labor and delivery nurse with over twenty years of experience and an excellent education behind her. Ruth is wonderful at her job, soothing newborn infants and their bleary-eyed parents, keeping up with the busy schedule of the labor and delivery ward at the small hospital where she works.
When Ruth is barred from caring for the newborn son of Turk and Brittany Baur because of her skin color, a seismic shift occurs in the safe world Ruth created for herself. A split second decision will have consequences beyond her imagination, leaving her neatly woven life shattered.
Kennedy McQuarrie is a white public defender that takes Ruth's case. She would never consider herself racist, she shops at Target and lives a fairly cozy life in the same neighborhood as Ruth. As these two women come to know each other, they are forced to understand their differences, earn the other's trust and work together. Both women find themselves challenged emotionally, fighting against the world they were raised in and questioning the standards to which they hold themselves and others.
Thoughtfully and masterfully crafted, Small Great Things is a novel about love, hate, family, acceptance, tolerance and forgiveness. Fast paced and wholly engrossing, I found myself fascinated with Jodi Picoult's characters, their misgivings and even found myself doing a little soul searching with them. The varying point of views, huge plot twist at the end, and suspense of this novel made it worth every page. It was far and away, one of my favorite general fiction novels of 2016.
Please read this book – it is brilliant.
Also just in case you missed it - Small Great Things has been optioned for a move starring Viola Davis and Julia Roberts! If you're anything like me, you'll want to read the book before the movie comes out.
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