Handle with Care: A Novel

Jodi Picoult

Dec 2016 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by Cassandra Morris, Charlotte Perry, Alma Cuervo, Celeste Ciulla, Jessica Almasy, and Jim Colby

About this audiobook

When Willow is born with severe osteogenesis imperfecta, her parents are devastated—she will suffer hundreds of broken bones as she grows, a lifetime of pain. In this provocative story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author, “Picoult writes with unassuming brilliance” (Stephen King).

Every expectant parent insists the same thing: they simply want a healthy baby. Charlotte and Sean O’Keefe wanted the same but instead, their lives are made up of sleepless nights, mounting bills, pity from other parents, and haunting what-ifs.

Yet, in other ways, their daughter Willow is a perfect child. Smart as a whip, beautiful, brave, and kind, Willow is Willow, in sickness and in health.

Everything changes, though, after a series of events forces Charlotte and Sean to confront the most serious what-ifs of all. What if Charlotte had known earlier of Willow’s illness? What if things could have been different? What if their beloved Willow had never been born? To do Willow justice, Charlotte must ask herself these questions and one more: what constitutes a valuable life?

“Well-written and conscientiously researched” (The Washington Post), Handle with Care is an unforgettable and emotionally riveting novel that explores the fragility of life and the lengths we go to protect it.

Ratings and reviews

Great read, well written and thought provoking but the constant recipes were very annoying. (And I love to cook & bake) Also the ending just felt like the author was bored & over the story so she just ended it in one paragraph. It was like there was zero closure. I've read quite a few of her books & loved them and I will continue to be her book fan. I was just disappointed in this one.

The ending is going to make you mad not feel good.

About the author

Jodi Picoult received an AB in creative writing from Princeton and a master’s degree in education from Harvard. The recipient of the 2003 New England Book Award for her entire body of work, she is the author of twenty-seven novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers House Rules, Handle With Care, Change of Heart, and My Sister’s Keeper, for which she received the American Library Association’s Margaret A. Edwards Award. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children. Visit her website at JodiPicoult.com.