Similar to Jodi Piccoult

Amarante

Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:22 pm

I liked Before We Were Yours very much. Not quite the same but based on a true life woman in Pre World War II South who colluded with authorities to steal children from poor people and sell them to wealthy people. Excellent book.

I like Picoult's books very much as well in terms of interesting family based dilemmas. There was one that I read (not by Picoult) involving a Jewish woman and her cousin who needed bone marrow and there was a court case. I can get the name if that would interest you.

Anna Quindlen might be someone you could try. One True Thing is about a mother daughter and caner. Some of her other books also have that kind of family moral dilemma. The movie was excellent as well by the way :-)

I've read others - I tend to like those kinds of intelligent woman's fiction to relax with.

The Two Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman was very good as well.

Loigman's debut novel is an engrossing family saga set in post-war Brooklyn. It focuses on two families that are inextricably linked by blood, marriage, and a long-held secret. Brothers Abe and Mort took over their family box business when their father died, even though Mort had his heart set on studying mathematics. The brothers share a two-family house with their children and wives. As the story opens in 1947, wives Rose and Helen are themselves as close as sisters, happily bringing up their children together. Rose and Mort have three young daughters, and Helen and Abe, on the top floor, are bringing up four sons. Then, the two women get pregnant at the same time, deliver their babies together during a horrible blizzard, and make an instant decision to swap the babies that will change all of their lives forever. The story follows the brothers, their wives, and the children through decades. Loigman's use of shifting perspectives allows readers to witness first-hand the growing consequences of long-festering secrets and the insidious lies that cover them up. This historical family drama has a dark underbelly, but Loigman's decision to let the reader in on the secret allows the setting and mood of the novel take over as the characters move haltingly toward redemption and peace. Agent: Marly Rusoff, Marly Rusoff & Associates, Inc\n. (Mar.) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

thunderstorm

Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:26 pm

Amarante wrote:

Thanks. These sound appealing. If you remember the name of of the bone marrow court case book let me know. Thanks

Amarante

Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:28 pm

You might also like Sima's Undergarments For Women by Ilana Stranger-Ross

n a hidden bra shop in Brooklyn, one woman's fifty-year-old secret comes unhooked.

There are some life-long quests that all women have in common-meaningful work, true love, and a bra that doesn't leave red marks on your skin. With a gracefulness evocative of Amy Bloom and Alice McDermott, prizewinning writer Ilana Stanger-Ross has created a secret underground New York sisterhood where women of every shape and creed can come to share their milestones, laughter, loves, and losses against a backdrop of discount lingerie.

In the comfort of her Brooklyn basement bra shop, Sima Goldner teaches other women to appreciate their bodies, but feels betrayed by her own. Shamed by her infertility and a secret from her youth, she has given up on happiness and surrendered to a bitter marriage. But then Timna, a young Israeli with enviable cleavage, becomes the shop seamstress. As the two serve the colorful customers of the orthodox Jewish neighborhood, Sima finds herself awakened to adventure and romance. Years after giving up on their marriage, Sima and her husband, Lev, must decide if what they have is worth saving.

Amarante

Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:32 pm

As Close To Us As Breathing by Elizabeth Poliner

An Amazon Best Book of the Year

A multigenerational family saga about the long-lasting reverberations of one tragic summer by "a wonderful talent [who] should be read widely" (Edward P. Jones).

In 1948, a small stretch of the Woodmont, Connecticut shoreline, affectionately named "Bagel Beach," has long been a summer destination for Jewish families. Here sisters Ada, Vivie, and Bec assemble at their beloved family cottage, with children in tow and weekend-only husbands who arrive each Friday in time for the Sabbath meal.

During the weekdays, freedom reigns. Ada, the family beauty, relaxes and grows more playful, unimpeded by her rule-driven, religious husband. Vivie, once terribly wronged by her sister, is now the family diplomat and an increasingly inventive chef. Unmarried Bec finds herself forced to choose between the family-centric life she's always known and a passion-filled life with the married man with whom she's had a secret years-long affair.

But when a terrible accident occurs on the sisters' watch, a summer of hope and self-discovery transforms into a lifetime of atonement and loss for members of this close-knit clan. Seen through the eyes of Molly, who was twelve years old when she witnessed the accident, this is the story of a tragedy and its aftermath, of expanding lives painfully collapsed. Can Molly, decades after the event, draw from her aunt Bec's hard-won wisdom and free herself from the burden that destroyed so many others?

Elizabeth Poliner is a masterful storyteller, a brilliant observer of human nature, and in As Close to Us as Breathing she has created an unforgettable meditation on grief, guilt, and the boundaries of identity and love.

Amarante

Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:33 pm

Midwives - Chris Bohjalian

A contemporary classic that has sold more than two million copies and was a selection of Oprah's original Book Club, Midwives is a compulsively readable novel that explores questions of human responsibility that are as fundamental to our society now as they were when the book was first published twenty years ago.

On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby’s life. She performs an emergency cesarean section on a mother she believes has died of stroke. But what if—as Sibyl's assistant later charges—the patient wasn't already dead? The ensuing trial bears the earmarks of a witch hunt, forcing Sibyl to face the antagonism of the law, the hostility of traditional doctors, and the accusations of her own conscience. Exploring the complex and emotional decisions surrounding childbirth, Midwives engages, moves, and transfixes us as only the very best novels ever do.

Amarante

Thu, Jan 18 2018, 9:35 pm

The book is about cord blood not bone marrow but I think you would like it if you like Picolt

It's The Laws of Gravity by Liz Rosenberg

An exquisite tour de force, The Laws of Gravity is a testament to what it means to be a family, what it takes to save a life, and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love.
Two families, bound by blood. One decision holds the key to survival.

Nicole, red-haired and beautiful, discovers that her life is in danger. She turns to her cousin and childhood best friend Ari for the cord blood he's been banking for his own children. His decision brings them before the scales of justice. Solomon Richter, a state Supreme Court judge on the brink of mandatory retirement, finds himself embroiled in a legal battle unlike any other. A case that calls into question the very things we live for: family, loyalty, friendship and love.
It's Nicole's last chance, Ari's last stand, and the judge's last case.
A novel of heartbreaking honesty, humor and depth; an unforgettable story of justice and love: The Laws of Gravity heralds award-winning Liz Rosenberg as a new storytelling sensation

thunderstorm

Sat, Jan 20 2018, 7:30 pm

allthingsblue wrote:

Bizzydizzymommy, I'm just curious- did you not find Jodi picoult's books to be heartbreaking? I cannot read them! They just break my heart every time!

Her stories can have heartbreaking moments but also moments of overcoming challenges and triumphs. Her stories are based on real life situations and they draw me in. But I'm weird in that way. I tend to gravitate towards holocaust memoirs as well. I find them to be a source of inspiration to me.

real

Sat, Jan 20 2018, 8:34 pm

I really like Lisa Scottoline books. She has a series with the same characters, and then she has random books. I think her random books are a lot like Jodi Piccoult, if not as intense.

She is an awesome writer- I have read each book and find she doesn't have soo much garbage as other authors.She also has you gripped and wanting to finish the book in one setting. I spent a whole shabbos reading her book instead of sleeping! And trust me, I need my sleep.