Join us for West Branch's monthly book dis cussion group! We read a variety of diverse contemporary and classic ficti on and meet once a month for a thought-provoking conversation. Register fo r in-person or virtual. Copies are reserved and available for pickup for a ll attendees. \;
\nContact discussion facilitator Dani Linn at&n bsp\;dtlinn@aurorapublicli brary.org \;with questions\, concerns\, or suggestions.
\nA Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
\nThe warm fall day starts like a ny other at the Center&mdash\;a women&rsquo\;s reproductive health service s clinic&mdash\;its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its d oors. Then\, in late morning\, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire\, taking all inside hostage.
\nAfter rushing to the scene\, Hugh McElroy\, a police hostage negotiator\, sets up a perimeter a nd begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibra tes with incoming text messages he glances at it and\, to his horror\, fin ds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter\, Wren\, is inside the clinic.\n
But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hour s of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who c alms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it\, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient\, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself\, vowing to be heard.
\nTold in a darin g and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hou rs of the standoff\, this is a story that traces its way back to what brou ght each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fat eful day.
\nJodi Picoult&mdash\;one of the most fearless writers of our time&mdash\;tackles a complicated issue in this gripping and nuanced n ovel. How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of th e unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent? A Spark of Lig ht will inspire debate\, conversation . . . and\, hopefully\, understandin g.
\nhttps://aurora.libnet.info/event/7814043 URL;VALUE=URI:https://aurora.libnet.info/event/7814043 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/aurora/soljp.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR