Meeting Jodi Picoult

Jodi Picoult is 43 years old, an American author with seventeen published novels. She is married to Tim and they have three children. They live in Hanover, New Hampshire in the United States.

I first read a Jodi Picoult novel two years ago. I have read and thoroughly enjoyed three of her novels so far – Nineteen Minutes, Perfect Match and Plain Truth - with a couple more of hers on my shelves, waiting to be read. She is definitely up there in my list of favourite authors.

I like how she tackles difficult subjects – euthanasia, child abuse, date rape and so on. She does not shy away from controversy, but faces it head on, encouraging the reader to examine their own beliefs, values and responses to such dilemmas. How would we cope? What would we do?

Her characters are wonderfully written and very believable, so you can always find someone to empathise with in the story. The relationships feel true too – husband and wife, parent and child, ex-lovers are all described in a way which makes you feel you know and understand the characters and their motivations.

I looked on her website a few weeks ago and discovered that not only was she coming to the UK (She’s American), but she was even going to be doing a talk in my hometown of Bristol. So I got tickets for my 17-year-old daughter (also a fan of her books) and myself. They were £12 each and for that, you were allowed entrance into Jodi Picoult’s talk, her Question and Answer session, plus you were given a free copy of her new hardback title House Rules, which she would sign afterwards. Bargain!

I was even more pleased to discover House Rules concentrates on a teenage boy with Aspergers’ Syndrome, as my 14-year-old daughter has Aspergers’ as well. One of the most surprising things about Jodi’s talk was when she asked for a show of hands in the audience as who knew someone with Aspergers’ and at least half the audience did!

Jodi read out an extract from the book and it was great, I could really see the characters and got into the plot very quickly. I was certainly left wanting to read the book myself to find out what happens.

Jodi was very entertaining and the time passed by too quickly, as I was left wanting to hear more from her. She used to be an English teacher and said she couldn’t resist a quick burst of Shakespeare, as she was standing on the stage of the historic Bristol Old Vic!

A fascinating, intelligent and inspirational woman, I was especially interested to hear her talk about how she structures her working day around her responsibilities as a mother. She explained she keeps her work and home life quite separate and leaves behind her characters and their emotions when she leaves her office and comes downstairs to her life as a wife and mother.

She commanded more admiration from the audience when she detailed the research she has done for her novels, which includes spending time talking to prisoners on Death Row and visiting a remote Eskimo village in temperatures I just can’t contemplate existing! I was also pleased she had consulted many teenagers with Aspergers’ Syndrome in researching House Rules and that she was very happy to change things, if the kids believed it sounded wrong.

She also talked about her novel which will be coming out in 2011 – Sing You Home – which deals with gay rights in the US, the opposition from the right wing religious groups over there and who owns the rights to embryos. It sounded another great read and I was very impressed with Jodi’s passion, as she explained the time she spent amongst a group of right-wing religious fundamentalists who try to ‘cure’ gay people. She said it was difficult for her in this case to understand their motivations, but felt she had to, so she could present a balanced view of the argument.

Sing Me Home will also be a different kind of novel, as it will come with a CD of songs that tie in with the story and Jodi explained that when she tours next year, she will be accompanied by a singer. This will be another talk I hope to go to.

After the talk and Question and Answer session, we then queued up onto the next floor of the building and waited to get our books signed. This was efficient, well organised and moved quicker than I had expected. We only had a brief moment with Jodi herself, but we got our books signed to us and had a quick photo taken with her, so I was pleased.

Overall, meeting Jodi Picoult and listening to her talk on stage has certainly made me more enthusiastic about her and her work. I loved her writing style anyway and feel she offers something a bit different to other authors, but now I have become even more of a loyal fan and I would urge everyone to try at least one of her books.

My favourite of hers so far is Nineteen Minutes, which is about a teenage boy who shoots some people in his local school. However, House Rules sounds wonderful, so I am looking forward to starting that today.


Don’t forget to check out her website which is www.jodipicoult.com