Product Description

Jane had always lived in somebody's shadow. Escaping a childhood of abuse by marrying oceanographer Oliver Jones, she finds herself taking second place to his increasingly successful career. However, when her daughter Rebecca is similarly treated, Jane's dramatic stand takes them all by surprise. Jane and Rebecca set out to drive across America to the sanctuary of the New England apple orchard where Jane's brother Joley works. Oliver, used to tracking male humpback whales across vast oceans, now has the task of tracking his wife across a continent. To do so he must learn to see the world - and even himself - through her eyes...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1050 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-20
• Released on: 2009-08-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review

'Picoult displays near perfect pitch . . . ingeniously structured and reminiscent of early Anne Tyler'

'Charming and poignant, Picoult's novel is even better after a second reading'

'This powerful and affecting novel demonstrates that there are as many truths to a story as there are people to tell it'

About the Author
Jodi Picoult grew up in Nesconset, New York. She received an A.B. in creative writing from Princeton and a master`s degree in education from Harvard. Her previous novels include Keeping Faith, The Pact, and Mercy. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children.

Customer Reviews

Songs of the Humpback Whale: A Novel in Five Voices
For years, Jane Jones has lived in the shadow of her husband, renowned San Diego oceanographer Oliver Jones. But during an escalating argument, Janes turns to him with an alarming volatility. In anger and fear, Jane leaves with her teenage daughter, Rebecca, for a cross-country odyssey. Charted by letters from her borther Joley, they are guided to his Massachusetts apple farm, where surprising self-discoveries await. Now Oliver, an expert at tracking humpback whales across vast oceans, will search for his wife across a continent, and find a new way to see the world, his family, and himself: through her eyes. The story is told in five different voices which at the start i found a bit difficult to understand as this is a very unusual way of writing, especially with Rebecca telling the story backwards: ) but once you get into the novel it becomes more clear. A very good read and i will read more of Picoults books.

Really disappointed
I love Jodi Piccoult and I've read all her books. I bought and read this the day it came out and was really disappointed with it. You never get to see the rteal people in the book, its like Jodi skimmed over their personalities and the book never really recovered.

Really awful - Picoult at her worst
I've read all of Jodi Picoult's books, and generally love them (apart from the usually predictable endings) but I really couldn't get on with this one. It jumped from narrator to narrator, and also around in time so I didn't have a clue what was going on, and didn't care enough to try and work it out.
It just didn't draw me in as the rest of her books have, and I abandoned it about 60 pages in. It's a good job she improved with her later novels, if I'd read this first I'd never had bothered with the others.