The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Summary:
Some stories live forever . . .

Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she’s ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she’s made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths we will go in order to protect our families and to keep the past from dictating the future.

My take: 4 looks
This is my second Jodi Picoult novel, and my favorite so far. My book club read this one, and I don't know what I expected, but I drawn into the story completely and found the writing to be very nice.

Sage Singer, at first, was a bit over-the-top for me, but as her story unfolded throughout the novel, so did my understanding of and compassion for her. This is a young lady with serious issues on several fronts, and Picoult handled the complexity of the story beautifully. Monster or Human? Forgive or not? Questions that all of us face at one time or another, in varying degrees, that enables the reader to complete submerge into the story.

I loved the common thread of baking bread throughout the novel. The descriptions were so lovingly painted that I could see, smell and taste the dough. Bread is vital in so many ways to the story and I completely fell in love with the art of breadmaking.

Excellent writing, excellent story and highly recommended.