Product Description

Everything breaks. Some things just hurt more than others.

Charlotte O'Keefe's beautiful, much-longed-for, adored daughter Willow is born with osteogenesis imperfecta - a very severe form of brittle bone disease. If she slips on a crisp packet she could break both her legs, and spend six months in a half body cast. After years of caring for Willow, her family faces financial disaster. Then Charlotte is offered a lifeline. She could sue her obstetrician for wrongful birth - for not having diagnosed Willow's condition early enough in the pregnancy to be able to abort the child. The payout could secure Willow's future. But to get it would mean Charlotte suing her best friend. And standing up in court to declare that she would have prefered that Willow had never been born...

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1329 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-28
• Released on: 2009-04-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 528 pages

Review
'Jodi Picoult is not one to shy away from fictional controversy; in fact, the more tangled and messy a moral dilemma appears, the better she likes it. (Daily Mail )

'Impossible to put down and stayed in my mind long after I had finished' (Observer )

'Superb, many-stranded, and grimly topical'

(The Times )

'Picoult has an uncanny knack of dreaming up moral dilemmas that you cannot ignore: you must know the resolution . . . A challenging and clever read' (Sunday Express )

'Dark, serious books that explore family relationships and scary moral dilemmas involving religion, crime and politics' (Heat )

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.

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Customer Reviews

My Sister's Keeper revisited
I am a great fan of Jodi Picoult, I've read 8 of her books - and therein lies the problem - she is starting to become very formulaic. Handle With Care is very reminiscent of My Sister's Keeper, with brittle bone disease in place of leukemia.

Willow (what a wonderful name!) is born with OI - Osteogenesis imperfecta. Before birth seven bones have broken and healed, by the time she's five, she's suffered over 50 breaks. Her whole life is centred around avoiding danger, where a small slip may result in a hospital visit. Her older sister, Amelia, loves her dearly but also feels very ostracised by the effects of the disease and the time her parents must spend with Willow.
Income is tight, Willow's Dad is a police officer and her Mum was once a pastry chef. The disease is financially crippling, for special wheelchairs, physiotherapy not covered by insurance etc. So when Charlotte discovers that she can sue her obstetrician (who also happens to be her best friend) for not informing her about Willow's condition with enough time to abort, she sees it as a solution to their financial problems; allowing Willow the necessary support and equipment that they are struggling to fund.
This causes all sorts of stresses within the family, interactions that are beautifully covered by the author. To my mind, this is where Jodi Picoult excells. She's also brilliant with the reality of living with disability and the effects it has on a family.

I didn't think the spasmodic recipies served much purpose, while obviously intended to have a double meaning, they seemed a bit unnecessary.

While I still admire Picoult's depiction of sibling interactions and parental heart searching, I am tiring of the ubiquitous court case and the story line is starting to feel very familiar. She is a wonderful writer but needs to find a fresh angle surprise us again.

Back On Form!
'Handle With Care' is Jodi Picoult writing at her very best and returning to one of the subjects she writes about so well - sibling rivalry, mother love and how actions can destroy a family.

As in many of her other novels, she blends together the many voices that tell this story so well. Narrated and looked at through the eyes of Willow's family and people closely associated with the legal case. Catherine and Sean - Willow's parents, Amelia - her sister. Piper - Catherine's best friend and the subject of the law case and Marlin - the family lawyer, all tell their story and give their point of view.

Catherine and Sean love Willow, but the pressure and distress caused by her illness is tearing the family apart. Willow has broken over fifty bones in her short life - seven bones were broken in utero and more during her birth. In order to provide for Willow - to ensure she has the best quality of life, Catherine decides to sue her doctor. Her doctor is also her best friend, and so begins the personal, ethical, social and moral dilemmas faced by all the characters.

The characters are all beautifully written - especially Amelia and Willow, the two sisters so central to the case. Amelia is such a sad little girl whose massive problems are overlooked by her parents as they struggle to care for Willow and keep their family together.

Jodi Picoult has obviously done so much research whilst writing this novel, the information and facts about Willow's illness, osteogenesis imperfecta are heart-breaking, yet still riveting.

Those who have read 'My Sister's Keeper' know that Jodi Picoult doesnt always tie up her stories as the reader may want - so have the tissues at the ready.

This story is going to stay with me for a long time to come. She really is, in my opinion, one of the best modern story-tellers around today.

Couldnt put it down
I loved this book. I'm a massive Jodi Picoult book and find her books so easy to read. She tackles gritty subjects with ease and grace that leaves you desperate to turn the page and finish the book. Compelling and informative, I enjoyed every minute of reading this book and love how Jodi writes so that you never side with one particular person in the story.
This book while it has some similarities to "My Sister's Keeper" it is what she does best and its brilliant.