Jodi Picoult: ‘Abortion will become a privilege, not a right’

Jodi Picoult: ‘Abortion will become a privilege, not a right’
Reproductive rights are under attack in the US, the bestselling Spark of Light author says

Nov 10, 2018
Catherine Conroy

“It’s a child. Not a choice. Isn’t it?”

This is the short, provocative synopsis on the back cover of Jodi Picoult’s latest novel, A Spark of Light, the story of a hostage situation in an abortion clinic in Mississippi.

I received a review copy of the book in late May of this year, just days after Ireland’s abortion referendum, when the arguments were still ringing in our ears. It felt like the matter was finally settled here, at least in the short term.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/jodi-picoult-abortion-will-become-a-privilege-not-a-right-1.3673133


USA – Picoult takes on the abortion debate in timely new novel

Picoult takes on the abortion debate in timely new novel
Fiction: A Spark of Light, Jodi Picoult, Hodder & Stoughton, hardback, 368 pages, €20.39

October 28 2018

The timing of Jodi Picoult's latest novel couldn't be more apt. A Spark of Light chronicles a deadly shooting and hostage-taking in a women's health clinic at a point when, in America, Roe v Wade is at risk of being overturned as the Supreme Court moves decidedly to the right, following the controversial confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, and in Ireland, a historic referendum prompted heated debates over abortion and the eventual vote to repeal the eighth amendment.

Picoult describes her work as "ethical or moral fiction", tackling contentious issues including rape, school shootings, religious identity, euthanasia and white supremacists. As well as the abortion debate, A Spark of Light explores post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans, racism and gun control ("the waiting period to get an abortion was longer than the waiting period to get a gun", she observes pointedly).

Continued: https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/picoult-takes-on-the-abortion-debate-in-timely-new-novel-37459173.html