By: Shireen Korkzan <[email protected]>

How do you bring in the controversial topics of organ donation, religious truth and capital punishment and combine them all into 464 pages of literary excellence? It’s not easy, but Jodi Picoult manages to pull it off in her newest book, Change of Heart. This novel will touch the hearts of readers and will make them feel sympathetic toward everyone, even to the man on death row.

Change of Heart begins with a murder case 11 years ago. Shay Bourne, accused of murdering Officer Nealon and his 7-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, is the first man sentenced to the death penalty in New Hampshire in almost 70 years. One of the judges who said “yes” in the decision of Bourne’s death sentence was Father Michael Wright, who would become Bourne’s spiritual adviser a few months before his death. During this time, Bourne is moved to I-tier, his last home. On his first day there, all the water at the prison suddenly turns into wine. Other miracles begin to occur, all revolving around Bourne, who claims he isn’t doing anything. Controversy strikes up whether or not Bourne is the new messiah or Jesus in a new form. Hundreds of people camp out in front of the prison, hoping that Bourne can heal them.

Ignoring what is happening outside the prison, Bourne tells Father Wright that his ultimate desire is to donate his heart to Claire Nealon, Elizabeth Nealon’s sister, who is slowly dying of heart failure and needs an organ donation in order to survive. However, this cannot happen if he is killed by lethal injection, which stops the heart from working. Attorney Maggie Bloom then steps in to help Bourne by finding a loophole in having an execution by lethal injection. Father Wright then begins realizing that much of what Bourne says are exact quotes from the Gnostic Gospels, or the Gospel of Thomas. Father Wright, Bloom and Bourne agree to use this central idea as the basis of his court case. The rest of the novel is the court case itself and everyone, including Bourne’s sister and June Nealon, Claire’s mother, finding out who and what they believe in.

As with other Jodi Picoult books, like My Sister’s Keeper, Change of Heart is written from a first person perspective of each character, combining together to form one story. However, the one perspective readers may especially want to read the story from is that of one character who never has a say throughout the novel: Shay Bourne. Readers get to know Bourne through the eyes of every other character. Despite the different personalities depicted in each character, they all observe Bourne in similar ways. This style of writing is perfect for this sort of story. It draws readers into wanting to know more about this prison inmate or messiah, whichever he or she may decide. But as with My Sister’s Keeper, Change of Heart ends by leading readers into a “what if” mode, allowing for further discussion after the novel ends.

This book excellently portrays the lives of the people who would later be haunted and inspired by one human being destined to change the lives of others through crisp dialogue and clear characterization. Readers will also be haunted by how one man can inspire others, if he was ever human in the first place. Change of Heart is poignant, depicting the shattered lives of many with one small speck of hope. Jodi Picoult is a fine writer, one everyone can expect to never fail her readers.