The news best-selling author Jodi Picoult received while writing her latest novel, “Sing You Home,” wasn’t exactly a surprise.
The novel, Picoult’s eighteenth, was released earlier this month and debuted at #1 on both the USA Today and New York Times book lists. It introduces Zoe, a music therapist who is divorced by her husband, Max, after their long-awaited baby is stillborn. After years of infertility, Max retreats into alcoholism and later a fundamentalist church, while Zoe stumbles through her days in a blur until Vanessa — a school counselor who just happens to be a lesbian — helps her find joy again.
In Picoult’s gently crafted romance, Zoe falls in love with Vanessa. After a Massachusetts wedding, the two women set out to have a baby using the embryos Zoe froze during her marriage to Max.