The difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with a serious disease are explored with pathos and understanding in Ms. Picoult's 11th novel. The author, who has taken on such controversial subjects as euthanasia (*Mercy*) teen suicide (*The Pact*) and sterilization laws (*Second Glance*) turns her gaze on genetic planning, the prospect of creating babies for health purposes and the ethical and moral fallout that results. Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia. Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for procedures that become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that she can sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how her body is used.
****I rate this book as 4/5 mainly because the topic so bothered me. I find it deplorable that a mother could even think of conceiving and having a child for the sole purpose of providing for another child. The book was well-written and the end was heartbreaking.
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