The Jodi Picoult Collection #4 Read online

  Q: With the multiple narrators you’ve created, is there a character that you connect with most, or that you feel represents your own voice?

  A: I had great sympathy for all of the characters in this book—each of them has a valid point to make, in my opinion. So I’d have to say that at different times, I sided with each one!

  Q: Your narrators share their stories as though they are telling them to Willow. Why did you decide to construct the novel this way?

  A: I have always wanted to write a book in the second-person narrative voice, but it’s tricky and calls for the right kind of story. Because the whole book revolves around Willow, I wanted her to feel present and accounted for—hence the structure. Plus, given the behavior of these characters, they deserved to explain themselves directly to Willow. But I also wanted the reader to feel viscerally what it’s like to be at the center of this kind of controversy—and the second person narration helped foster the sense that the characters are talking to you.

  Q: As the author, do you ever feel as though you’re taking on the role of the jury? How did you decide what the ruling of the wrongful birth suit would be?

  A: I like to think of my reader in the role of the jury, actually. It’s my job as writer to present all sides of the story and then, based on the evidence, leave you to decide what was wrong and what was right. As for a ruling here, it wasn’t as important to me as the final twist of the book—but in order to have that final twist, I had to first have the jury rule a certain way . . . and that’s all I’m going to say before I give it away!

  Q: Why did you decide not to share Willow’s perspective until the end?

  A: Because the reader serves as Willow’s “stand-in” in the book—since the characters are explaining themselves to “you,” it makes you part of the action, and therefore part of the judgment of their behavior. And yet I felt the reader, after hearing everyone’s explanation about the wrongful birth issue, also deserved to hear directly from Willow to see how everything had affected her.

  Q: You’ve said before that you know how a book will end before you write the first word. Was this also true for Handle with Care? Do you ever change your mind about an ending as you get deeper into the story?

  A: I do know the ending before I write a single word, and I did here, too. I will tell you that I think Handle with Care is the saddest book I’ve written—and coming from me, that’s pretty dire! I never wavered on the ending, however, because there’s a bit of a morality lesson in there as well—it’s a real “Be careful what you wish for” moment.

  Q: What’s your next project?

  A: My 2010 book is about a teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome. He’s hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject—in his case, forensic analysis. He’s always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do . . . and he’s usually right. But then one day his tutor is found dead, and the police come to question him. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger’s—not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, inappropriate affect—can look a heck of a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel, and suddenly, Jacob finds himself accused of murder. I wanted to write a book about how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way—but lousy for those who don’t.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  As the mother of a child who had ten surgeries in three years, I would like to thank first the doctors and nurses who routinely take the hardest moments a family can experience and soften the edges: to Dr. Roland Eavey and the pediatric nursing staff at Mass. Eye and Ear—thank you for the real-life happy ending. In the course of writing My Sister’s Keeper, as always, I was reminded of how very little I know, and how much I rely on the experience and the intellect of others. For allowing me to borrow from their lives personally and professionally, or for suggestions of pure writing genius: thank you, Jennifer Sternick, Sherry Fritzsche, Giancarlo Cicchetti, Greg Kachejian, Dr. Vincent Guarerra, Dr. Richard Stone, Dr. Farid Boulad, Dr. Eric Terman, Dr. James Umlas, Wyatt Fox, Andrea Greene and Dr. Michael Goldman, Lori Thompson, Synthia Follensbee, Robin Kall, Mary Ann McKenney, Harriet St. Laurent, April Murdoch, Aidan Curran, Jane Picoult, and Jo-Ann Mapson. For making me “can man” for the night, and part of a bona fide firefighting team: thanks to Michael Clark, Dave Hautanemi, Richard “Pokey” Low, and Jim Belanger (who also gets a gold star for editing my mistakes). For throwing their considerable support behind me, thanks to Carolyn Reidy, Judith Curr, Camille McDuffie, Laura Mullen, Sarah Branham, Karen Mender, Shannon McKenna, Paolo Pepe, Seale Ballenger, Anne Harris, and the indomitable Atria sales force. For believing in me first, my pure gratitude to Laura Gross. For outstanding guidance and the freedom to spread my wings, my sincere appreciation to Emily Bestler. For Scott and Amanda MacLellan, and Dave Cranmer—who offered me insight into the triumphs and tragedies of living daily with a life-threatening disease—thank you for your generosity, and best wishes for a long and healthy future.

  And, as always, thanks to Kyle, Jake, Sammy, and especially to Tim, for being what matters most.

  * The best way to peel peaches is to cut a small cross at the base of each peach and drop the fruit into a pot of boiling water for 1 minute. Remove it with a slotted spoon and immediately place the peach in ice water. Peel the peach—the skin will come right off—and slice into thin wedges or small pieces for the buckle.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2009 by Jodi Picoult

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Atria Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  “Late Fragment” from A New Path to the Waterfall by Raymond Carver. Copyright © 1989 by the Estate of Raymond Carver. Used by permission of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

  From The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner, copyright © 1976 by Wallace Stegner. Used by permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.

  First Washington Square Press trade paperback edition September 2009

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  Designed by Jaime Putorti

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

  Picoult, Jodi, 1966–

  Handle with care : a novel / by Jodi Picoult.

  p. cm.

  1. Osteogenesis imperfecta—Fiction. 2. Wrongful life—Fiction. 3. Medical care, Cost of—Fiction. 4. Parents of children with disabilities—Fiction. 5. Mothers—Psychology—Fiction. 6. Physician and patient—Moral and ethical aspects—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3566.I372H36 2009

  813'.54—dc22

  2008038339

  ISBN 978-0-7432-9641-0

  ISBN 978-0-7432-9642-7 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4391-5630-8 (eBook)

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  Case 1: Sleep Tight

  Chapter 1

  Emma

  Theo

  Jacob

  Rich

  Jacob

  Case 2: Irony 101

  Chapter 2

  Emma

  Theo

  Oliver

  Jacob

  Emma

  Theo

  Jacob