Search advanced search
 
Books
Search:
x dismiss this message

Did you know you can edit this page?

Change of Heart
  • Rated 0 stars
Read Change of Heart

Change of Heart (2008) (edit title/settings)

by Jodi Picoult (Author) (edit contributors)

Share this book on:
see page history

Description edit see section history

The acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author presents a spellbinding tale of a mother's tragic loss and one man's last chance at gaining salvation. Can we save ourselves, or do we rely on others to do it? Is what we believe always the truth? One moment June Nealon was happily... read more

Summary edit see section history

Shay Bourne was a carpenter that worked for a family of 3: June, the mother, Kurt, the new father, and Elizabeth, Kurt's stepdaughter and June's daughter. June was 8 months pregnant with a girl. When she came back form her doctor's appointment, she found Kurt and Elizabeth murdered, by Shay... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Shay Bourne was a carpenter that worked for a family of 3: June, the mother, Kurt, the new father, and Elizabeth, Kurt's stepdaughter and June's daughter. June was 8 months pregnant with a girl. When she came back form her doctor's appointment, she found Kurt and Elizabeth murdered, by Shay Bourne.
11 years later, Shay is sentenced to die by lethal injection. He doesnt mind at all...until he fnds out that June's 11-year-old girl, Claire, needs a heart to survive. Maggie Bloom, Shay's lawyer, and Father Micheal, his spirtual advisor, struggle and fight for him to die by being hanged, because the lethal injection kills the heart, while hanging kills it slower. Other prisoners discover that Shay can produce miracles, from healing the dead to distributing 1 bazooka gum to plenty prisoners, by changing the gum to many. Micheal realizes that he quotes sayings from the bible, even though he was illetrate and never read the bible before, so everyone belives that he's the Messiah. Shay won the case, but then Micheal discovers that Shay's innocent...
Here's what really happened:
June left for the appointment, and Shay left the house, only to remember that he left his tool box in the house. He comes inside, and witnesses Kurt sexually abusing Elizabeth. Shay tries to save her, and Elizabeth gets killed in the process, and Shay kills Kurt. (self-defense)
June is told of his innocence, and she accepts his heart for Claire. She witnesses his hanging, and when Shay was asked for his last words, they were directed for June: "I forgive you," he said.
He was hung and his heart was transplanted in Claire, she survives.
Shay's wish was that Micheal got all of his belongings. Micheal recieved a box, and ironcally, he finds several packs of Bazooka gum and a piece of paper with Bible quotes on it.
Grace, Shay's sister, was coming over to June's to visit her and Claire. Claire was getting dressed up, and she notices that their dog, Dudley, isn't moving. There was no heart beat either. She screamed and tries to wake up the dog, and under her hands, his heart starts beating again.

Characters edit see section history

Show all 74 characters
Popular Covers

Loading covers…

Choose your book’s cover

Quotes edit see section history

  • “There is so much pain in this world... how do any of us manage to get up in the morning?”
    Maggie Bloom
  • “This is what it always comes down to, I realized. There are the ones who believe, and the ones who don't, and caught in the space between them are guns.”
    Lucius
  • “I had my bat mitzvah, then I told my parents I was never going to temple again. "Why?" my father asked when I told him. "Because I don't think God really cares whether or not I'm sitting here ever Friday night. Because I don't buy into a religion that's based on what thou shalt not do, instead of what thou ought to be doing for the greater good. Because I don't know what I believe."”
    Maggie Bloom
  • “Everyone knows that it's wrong to execute an innocent man. The real question is whether it's still wrong to execute someone who's guilty.”
    Maggie Bloom
  • “What do you think is easier? Knowing you're going to die on a certain date and time, or knowing it might happen any moment when you least expect it?”
    Shay Bourne
  • “Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy's dying wish?”
    June Nealon
  • “No matter what Mr. Philosopher Next Door thought, there were things I knew for sure: That I had been loved, once, and had loved back.That a person could find hope in the way a weed grew. That the sum of aman's life was not where he wound up but in the details that broughthim there.That we made mistakes.”
    Lucius
  • “Pretending, it turned out, took much less effort than hoping.”
    Maggie Bloom
  • “I should have known better than to assume all the planets had aligned for me.”
    Maggie Bloom
  • “The guys at the top of the totem pole never see what's carved at the bottom.”
    Maggie Bloom
  • “There's always going to be bad stuff out there. But here's the amazing thing—light trumps darkness, every time. You stick a candle into the dark, but you can't stick the dark intothe light.”
    Father Walter
  • “"I don't belong to a religion. Religion's the reason the world's falling apart- did you see that guy get carted out of here? THAT'S what religion does. It points a finger. It causes wars. It breaks apart countries. It's a petri dish for stereotypes to grow in. Religion's not about being holy", Shay said. "Just holier-than-thou."”
    Shay Bourne
  • “Religion is intriguing, but in a historical sense.”
    Ian Fletcher
  • “"Remember when you were little, a kid- and you'd fall asleep in the car? And someone would carry you out and put you into bed, so that when you woke up in the morning, you knew automatically you were home again? That's what i think it's like to die."”
    Father Michael
Show all 14 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

New England, 2008

Organizations edit see section history

  • ACLU: (American Civil Liberties Union) National organization advocating individual rights, by litigating, legislating, and educating the public on a broad array of issues affecting individual freedom in the United States.

First Sentence edit see section history

In the beginning, I believed in second chances.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

This book is in 2011-2012 Iowa High School Battle of the Books. (authoritative list)
This book is in 2010-2011 Iowa High School Book Award. (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Jodi Picoult (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Simon & Schuster-Atria
Country: United States
Publication Date: 4 March 2008
ISBN: 9780743496742
Page Count: 464

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS3566.I372 C47 2008
  • Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

Great for adults too. The themes are very advanced - religion/abuse.

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Keeping Faith

We’re hiding the errata, movie connections, books that influenced this book, books influenced by this book, books that cite this book and books cited by this book sections. If you would like to add content to them, you must first make them visible.

© 2006-2013 Shelfari | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy

Close