Jodi Picoult's Great Small Things - Racial Injustice, White Supremacy and a Litigious Society

Jodi Picoult is an American novelist whose books frequent the NYTimes Best Selling List.  While her books are fast reads, they are far from frivolous.  They tend to delve into pertinent social issues from varying vantages. Her previous best sellers include "My Sister's Keeper;" a young girl seeks medical emancipation from parents wishing to "harvest" organs and "19 Minutes;" the aftermath of a school shooting.  Both novels dealt with real life scenarios.  Litigation factored into these novels.  Litigation plays a major role in "Great Small Things".  After the ordeal of an infant's death while in the care of a hospital.  The parents of the deceased baby are both militant white supremacists.  The nurse assigned to care for the mother & child is Ruth.  Ruth is a 20 year nursing veteran at the hospital and esteemed colleague.  The reception Ruth receives from the mother and father, Turk is loathsome owing to the fact Ruth is black.  Turk demands the supervisor insure Ruth not interact with their son.  Ruth is upset when she sees a sticker placed on the couple's file informing Ruth not be involved in any further care.  Bedlam occurs at the hospital.  Ruth is left to watch over the infants in neonatal care while the only other nurse on duty is called to an emergency.  Tragically, an emergency happens involving Turk's son.  Ruth followed Dr's orders to assist resuscitation but the infant died.  Not surprisingly, Ruth is the one person charged with murder.  Public Defender Kennedy is arbitrarily assigned Ruth's arraignment and inveigles her way into becoming her permanent public defender.  This will be Kennedy's first murder trial and she's determined to win the case (for both Ruth's sake & her own). The novel is told from these 3 narratives:  Ruth, the black nurse, Turk, the white supremest father determined to seek vengeance against Ruth and Kennedy, the white public defender,  Both Ruth & Kennedy have a child.  Ruth's son Edison is a senior on full scholarship at Dalton in NYC.  Ruth has worked arduously as has her mother so she could have an education.  Ruth is dedicated to providing for Edison's tuitions.  Kennedy's daughter is a pre-schooler allotted privileges her parents can more easily provide having had a rung up inherent & perhaps taken for granted due in part to their white race.  Picoult creates 3 dimensional characters we empathize with or despise as in Turk's case.  "Great Small Things" accomplishes significant things. It calls out social injustice, blind hatred, familial love and dawning epiphanies on underestimating mundane & major inequalities inherent with race.  Picoult also manages to write a driving novel with mounting tension.  Ruth grandstands on the witness stand & Turk takes a turn towards humanity v. hatred that tip the scales towards heavy handedness.  Still, I find in favor of this prescient novel. Picoult argues harrowing injustices from different vantages in a palpable summation so as to reach a larger jury pool.