Jodi Picoult: The author
Jodi Lynn Picoult is an American author of 28 novels, numerous short stories, and several Wonder Woman graphic novels (scripts, not illustrations). Her work has been translated into more than 30 languages, selling around 40 million hardcover books across the globe. Her success as an author granted her the New England Award in 2003 for fiction.
Focusing on family dramas, author Jodi Picoult’s stories emphasize moral dilemmas that pit characters against each other. She also discusses controversial topics such as abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, religion, school shootings, and even death penalties between the lines. Some of her books are available on Speechify Audiobooks, so let’s check them out.
Who is Jodi Picoult?
Picoult was born in Nesconset, NYC, in Long Island, and graduated in English at Princeton University, where she studied creative writing. Afterward, she finished Harvard University, earning a master’s degree, and now holds two honorary doctorates, one from Dartmouth College and the other from the University of New Haven. She is married to Timothy Warren Van Leer, and they have three children.
Her early work includes Songs of the Humpback Whale from 1992 and Harvesting the Heart from 1993. However, the first book that awarded her a place on the New York Times bestseller list was Nineteen Minutes from 2007, peaking at number one. A year later, she again appeared on the same list with the book Change of Heart. In fact, she had the same success with the books Handle with Care and House Rules in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
Besides her work as an author, Jodi Picoult is an active member of the New Hampshire Coalition Against the Death Penalty. She is also the winner of many awards, including the Sarah Josepha Hale Award from 2019.
Jodi Picoult’s overall writing style and impact on society
When it comes to her writing style, Jodi Picoult is nothing short of an accomplished wordsmith. She excels at creating tense situations that not only provoke her readers but also touch their souls and call upon their minds to think harder about the world we live in. She does so by creating believable characters, which all of us can relate to due to their flaws and human desires.
With such writing, it’s no wonder why Picoult’s books had such a major impact on American society. Whether it’s in books like Nineteen Minutes, where she tells a story about the aftermath of a school shooting, or the lesbian cause in Sing You Home, it’s just as powerful. The reason is that Jodie Picoult keeps a keen eye on what it’s like living in modern times.
Jodi Picoult’s most popular novels
As mentioned, Jodi Picoult wrote 28 novels and is a New York Times bestselling author. Unfortunately, we can only go through some of them here.
My Sister’s Keeper (2004)
When instructed to donate a kidney to her older sister, whose health is slowly deteriorating from severe leukemia, teenage Anna Fitzgerald sues her parents for medical emancipation. My Sister’s Keeper is the eleventh book by Jodi Picoult.
The Storyteller (2013)
In her twenty-second novel, The Storyteller, Jodie Picoult centers her story around Sage, who befriends an elderly man while attending a support group. Unfortunately for Sage, who connects with the old man, it turns out that he was a Nazi soldier in WWII. He continues to beg her to kill him so that he stops living in agony, knowing what he did during the war.
Small Great Things (2016)
Jodi Picoult doesn’t hold back when it comes to writing about difficult topics. However, she takes things one step further in Small Great Things, where she tells a story of an African American delivery nurse caring for a racist couple’s baby son.
Sing You Home (2011)
In her nineteenth novel, Sing You Home, from 2011, Jodi Picoult focuses her story on a bisexual woman who is battling for her right to use the frozen embryos she and her ex-husband created while being married.
The Tenth Circle (2006)
Jodi Picoult and difficult themes are a perfect match, and she shows us why in her 2006 novel The Tenth Circle. The plot revolves around Trixie, a teenager, who gets raped by her ex-boyfriend, which, in turn, causes her family to get nearly destroyed.
The Pact (1998)
In true thriller fashion, Jodie Picoult’s The Pact tells a gripping tale about two families whose teenage children form a suicide pact, after which one of them ends their life, and the other becomes a murder suspect.
Nineteen Minutes (2007)
YA novels don’t get so hard-hitting as Picoult’s 2007 book titled Nineteen Minutes. Namely, it leads us through the events that lead up to a school shooting, the event itself, and how people in a small town deal with its aftermath.
Change of Heart (2008)
At first, Change of Heart might appear as a cheap story about redemption. However, in her 2008 novel, Jodi Picoult manages to tell a powerful story about Shay Bourne and his idea of redemption by donating his post-execution heart to his victim’s sister, who needs transplantation.
Handle with Care (2009)
In her seventeenth novel, Handle with Care, from 2009, Jodie Picoult once again doesn’t shy away from taboos and difficult topics. Namely, in this book, she tells a story about a mother and her disabled daughter fighting their way through medical ethics and personal morality.
Leaving Time (2014)
Lastly, we should mention Leaving Time from 2014. It’s a novel about a daughter of a mysteriously vanished mother who refuses to believe that she would just leave her in the wake of a tragic event. She investigates a diary and looks her mother up on the internet in the hope of getting at least some clue as to why she disappeared.
Listen to Jodi Picoult’s audiobooks on Speechify Audiobooks
One of the easiest ways to explore Jodi Picoult’s work is by listening to audiobooks. And the best app for listening to audiobooks is Speechify. Speechify Audiobooks features many Jodi Picoult favorites such as Sing You Home, The Storyteller, The Tenth Circle, The Pact, Nineteen Minutes, Change of Heart, Handle with Care, Songs of the Humpback Whale, Second Glance, Salem Falls, Picture Perfect, Keeping Faith, Vanishing Acts, Lone Wolf, House Rules, and Plain Truth. Additionally, once you’ve binged Picoult’s books, Speechify Audiobooks offers a rich library with over 70,000 titles in both similar and different genres for you to explore.
The platform can work on any device and is user-friendly, so sign up for Speechify Audiobooks today and enjoy your first premium audiobook for free.
FAQ
What is Jodi Picoult’s bestselling book?
Selling 40 million books worldwide, Jodi Picoult is one of the most popular authors today. Two of her bestselling books include My Sister’s Keeper and Nineteen Minutes.
What are some of Jodi Picoult’s books?
Besides the ones that we’ve provided summaries of in the text above, Jodie Picoult also wrote:
- Songs of the Humpback Whale
- Second Glance
- Salem Falls
- Picture Perfect
- Keeping Faith
- Vanishing Acts
- Lone Wolf
- The Book of Two Ways
- Plain Truth
- A Spark of Light
- Wish You Were Here
Additionally, Picoult co-authored her new novel, Mad Honey, with Jennifer Finney Boylan, just as she did Off the Page with her daughter Samantha Van Leer in 2015.
