“How could she trust this man, so imprecise with his words, to take care of the burial? To say there had been a loss was ludicrous; one lost a shoe or a pair of keys. You did not suffer the death of a child and say there was a loss. There was a catastrophe. A devastation. A hell.”

American novelist of the late 20th and 21st centuries, Jodi Picoult is known for her emotionally layered legal thrillers that explore moral dilemmas and human complexity. Her work often weaves together multiple perspectives to examine justice, ethics, and the consequences of choices.