A Spark of Light

By: Jodi Picoult

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Another Jodi masterpiece

Another great read (or listen) from Jodi with her usual wonderful ability to illustrate multiple perspectives on a moral issue.

Food for Thought

I enjoyed the passions demonstrated by the characters about their beliefs. The book confirms that the world is shades of grey not black and white.
I enjoyed the narrator but the movement back and forth in time can be confusing when listening not reading. All in all a good listen.

loved the book.

Well researched and great narration. I really loved this book. Probably my favorite book by Jodi Picoult so far.

Should be 7 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I have enjoyed a number of Jodi Picoult’s books, but none as much as this one. It handles a difficult issue with balance and sensitivity to both sides of the argument. It has helped me to see the other point of view from a clearer perspective.
Thank you, Jodi.

Not as good as others

The moral dilemma was a good and topical one but I hated the way it started at the end and worked it's way backwards. Whilst this was an interesting literary technique I'd advise against doing it again!

4 Hard Hitting Stars

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hard Hitting Stars

#TriggerWarnings - Abortion / Racism / Rape


The story starts out at 5pm at a Clinic in Jackson Mississippi, a gunman has opened fire inside the Abortion Clinic locally known as “The Center” the story then takes us backwards to the start of the day, and we find out why the characters are there.

Hugh McElroy is a hostage negotiator, at 5pm he gets called to the scene and immediately gets all of the details he can, and starts to communicate with the gunman, at the same time his phone starts to vibrate, when he looks at the text he has just received, he is horrified to find out that his daughter Wren and his sister Bex are inside the clinic!

The Center is somewhere women can go to get Contraception, Gynaecological examinations, General Women’s Health check-ups, and Abortions.

There are always Anti-Abortion protesters outside of The Center, trying to grab the women before they make it into the front door, they are handing out “gift bags” and trying to guilt them into changing their minds.

The Gunman is called George, and he is angry because he has found out that his daughter had an abortion at this clinic recently, not only does he shoot the doctor that performs the abortions, he shoots others as well, and Hugh’s daughter Wren might be one of them!

Tangled in this story is another, this story is about Beth, she took the difficult decision to terminate her own pregnancy, and now because of the Mississippi Abortion Law, she is facing murder charges, and could go to prison for 20 years if she is found guilty.

This story doesn’t try and sway you either way in your beliefs, and it doesn’t feel preachy at all, but I do like the way that Picoult tries to make you see both sides of the Pro-Life / Pro-Choice argument.

Regardless of your beliefs I think this is a great book to have for a Book club and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

🎧🎧 – Narrated by the amazing Bahni Turpin.

This was my main reason for picking up this book, she could literally narrate a recipe for a fruit cake and I would be there One Clicking like a lunatic! The woman can do no wrong in my eyes and makes any book into a fantastic read.

This is certainly one to pop into your basket.

Do not judge actions of others. 7

Not a comfortable way to read of events. No person has the right to judge another's actions. We are not creators. We are not meant to make judgments.

Jumped around a lot

It was a bit annoying how the book was jumping all over the place and back and forth for the characters. I think I would of preferred it if the characters were introduced one at a time. But otherwise was a good story and a good concept

My least favorite book by this author.

Not at all because of the content or my opinion on abortion but I was not drawn into the story or characters at all. I found it segmented and it was difficult to follow characters