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A Spark of Light

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A Spark of Light

By: Jodi Picoult
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
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About this listen

The masterful new novel from the number one best-selling author of Small Great Things.

The Center for women's reproductive health offers a last chance at hope - but nobody ends up there by choice.

Its very existence is controversial, and to the demonstrators who barricade the building every day, the service it offers is no different from legalised murder.

Now life and death decisions are being made horrifyingly real: a lone protester with a gun has taken the staff, patients and visitors hostage.

Starting at the tensest moment in the negotiations for their release, A Spark of Light unravels backwards, revealing hour by urgent hour what brought each of these people - the gunman, the negotiator, the doctors, nurses and women who have come to them for treatment - to this point.

And certainties unwind as truths and secrets are peeled away, revealing the complexity of balancing the right to life with the right to choose.

©2018 Jodi Picoult (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Political Small Town & Rural United States Women's Fiction World Literature
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Absolutely loved it! Love Jodie Picoult's writing style. Loved the narration too. Just wonderful and superb.

Great, easy listening book

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Topical subject matter, sensitively handled. Jodie writes a well thought out book, tackling a complex topic in a thought provoking and compelling manner

Fantastic narration

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A different style and I am not a fan.
I dont like short stories and this is basically a collection of short stories about the same topic. The usual gritty storyline that you can get your teeth into just wasnt there I'm afraid. Not one of her better books.

Not her usual style

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I love this author and I will continue to read her books however this book didn’t provide closure on the many key characters which is a huge missing for me. The timeline went backwards which was confusing and although I found it an interesting read, I wish I knew how the characters moved forward after being held hostage.

Closure

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This took me a while to get into. The backward story line had me confused until I found the rhythm and could follow it more easily. The story is a powerful one of choice, faith and controversy which tugs at the reader’s heartstrings for a number of reasons. There is never a valid reason to rampage anywhere, let alone through an abortion clinic which is full of women making difficult decisions, and the author tackled the subject respectfully.

Difficult subject matter

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The story was great but I got a bit tired to the way it jumped in various stages from before the seize to after the siege. From a listening perspective I found that having two characters with similar sounding names, Beth and Bex, made me have to strain to work out which character was in play. A good read nonetheless 👏👏👏

A challenging topic but good reading

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the character development and way she gets into people's head to show two sides of a very complicated debate from very personal perspectives is talented

excellence in words - my first Jodi Picoult book.

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an interesting insight into the complexities of decisions about abortion. Everyone has a story.

Excellent story

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I had to read this for book club. It’s nicely written however I personally don’t enjoy these kind of books as I find them boring. This one has some confronting issues that are tackled in a creative way, however I just didn’t like the style it was written.

I read it for book club

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Loved the book. It highlights the thoughts processes behind each side of the story brilliantly. Brings to light some very important messages. My only criticism is Bahni's performance, most of the time she is very good but I feel she transitions between characters too swiftly and it can be confusing sometimes.

Fantastic

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