I felt so many feelings while reading this book. Anger-- check. Happiness-- check. Sadness-- check. Hope-- check. ALL. THE. FEELS.

Jodi Piccoult wrote a story that cuts deep due to the topic of the book-- Racism. And not just the racism where one group of people call another group of people hurtful things. Not when one person commits a physical hate crime. She talks about Systematic Racism and how it still plays such a huge role in our country.

Ruth Jefferson has worked as a nurse in the baby ward of a hospital for over 20 years. One morning, when taking over for another nurse, she attends to a newborn baby who is with their parents. Shortly after, Ruth is asked to no longer treat the baby. Why? She is African American and the baby's parents are White Supremacists. The next day, Ruth is left in the room alone with the baby due to an emergency the other nurse has to take care of. While that happens, the newborn goes into cardiac arrest and sadly dies. Rightfully angry and upset, the parents decide to sue. While talking to the hospital representative, they are convinced to set their eyes on Ruth. Being Supremacists, they happily have Ruth charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter.

Ruth's case is picked up by Kennedy, a white lawyer. Though Kennedy would never call herself racist, she does not want to bring race into the argument in court. This is a tactic Ruth is 100% against. Through the journey of Ruth's trial, the characters and the reader are asked to confront a topic that goes deep in our country. A question that scares us to even be asked-- Am I a racist?

Piccoult, whose Author's Note should be read either before or after finishing the novel, takes a topic that still separates our nation to its core. An issue that may seem "odd" to some, considering we are called the Melting Pot.

I highly recommend this book. It was extremely well written and while the content is hard to read at times, it was very much worth reading.