The Tenth Circle

Jodi Picoult

ISBN 10: 141937172X ISBN 13: 9781419371721

Publisher: Recorded Books, 2006

Synopsis

Fourteen-year-old Trixie Stone has been a ghost for 14 days, seven hours, and 36 minutes, not that she is officially counting. With a story that transports readers from smalltown New England to the wilds of the Alaskan bush, Picoult probes the unbreakable bond between parent and child and the dangerous repercussions of trying to play God. Unabridged. 11 CDs.

About this title

Review

Bestselling author Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle is a metaphorical journey through Dante's Inferno, told through the eyes of a small Maine family whose hidden demons haunt every aspect of their seemingly peaceful existence. Woven throughout the novel are a series of dramatic illustrations that pay homage to the family's patriarch (comic book artist Daniel Stone), and add a unique twist to this gripping, yet somewhat rhetorical tale.

Trixie Stone is an imaginative, perceptive 14 year old whose life begins to unravel when Jason Underhill, Bethel High's star hockey player, breaks up with her, leaving a void that can only be filled by the blood spilled during shameful self-mutilations in the girls' bathroom. While Trixie's dad Daniel notices his daughter's recent change in demeanor, he turns a blind eye, just as he does to the obvious affair his wife Laura, a college professor, is barely trying to conceal. When Trixie gets raped at a friend's party, Daniel and Laura are forced to deal not only with the consequences of their daughter's physical and emotional trauma, but with their own transgressions as well. For Daniel, that means reflecting on a childhood spent as the only white kid in a native Alaskan village, where isolation and loneliness turned him into a recluse, only to be born again after falling in love with his wife. Laura, who blames her family's unraveling on her selfish affair, must decide how to reconcile her personal desires with her loved ones' needs.

The Tenth Circle is chock full of symbolism and allegory that at times can seem oppresive. Still, Picoult's fans will welcome this skillfully told story of betrayal and its many negative, and positive consequences. --Gisele Toueg

Review

"This book will take your breath away....Grade A."

-- "Entertainment Weekly"

"Picoult is a master of the craft of storytelling." -- Houston Chronicle

"Picoult skillfully twists and turns this story in so many ways, keeping readers wondering how things will turn out until nearly the last, satisfying page." -- Orlando Sentinel

"This book will take your breath away. . . . Grade A." -- Entertainment Weekly

"Picoult spins fast-paced tales of family dysfunction, betrayal, and redemption. . . . [Her] depiction of these rites of contemporary adolescence is exceptional: unflinching, unjudgmental, utterly chilling." -- The Washington Post

Edition details

• Publisher: Recorded Books
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 141937172X
• ISBN 13: 9781419371721
• Binding: Audio CD