Keeping Faith

Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult

After the first time Mariah White discovered her husband, Colin's infedelity, she lost it. She had a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed with severe depression. When she attempted suicide, Colin went to court and had Mariah forced into Greenhaven, a mental institution - it was there that she learned she was pregnant with Faith. After stumbling upon her husband with another woman, for the second time, Mariah knew that this time she had to do whatever she could to pull it together for seven-year old Faith. What Mariah didn't expect was that shortly after Colin leaves their home for good, Faith begins to exhibit strange behaviour - talking to her "Guard", quoting bible verses she has never heard before, stigmata and miraculous healings. The work of God?  A child acting out to get attention, in hopes of keeping her parents together? Through a storm of media attention and court battles, Mariah struggles to make sense of what is happening to her daughter and learns, in the process, that she is a stronger person than she ever thought possible.

I finished this book a few days ago, and not only can I not get it out of my mind but I'm finding this novel the most difficult so far to put into words. Perhaps it is the inclusion of a topic like religion, but I think it has more to do with the fact that Jodi Picoult has left this novel, once again, with questions unanswered for the reader to mull over. Once again I must sing her praises: Jodi Picoult has managed to take a very controversial subject (religion) and has weaved it through her plot leaving readers reconsidering their own views about religion and the existence of God. The novel isn't completely based around religion - which may or may not change some people's minds about whether or not to read it. Jodi Picoult has once again given her readers a novel that they will think about long after they've finished reading it.