A deeply emotional, hauntingly timely novel best experienced knowing as little as possible
Release date: September 15, 2026
Publisher: Ballantine
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Synopsis:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name comes a riveting novel about the risks we take to protect the ones we love in a world where crisis is always just around the corner.
On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only two months old, her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home. Her father and the stepmother who raised her couldn’t have loved her more, but she still grew up with a healthy dread of disasters.
Now an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during storms, epidemics, and airplane crashes. She and her husband, Jesse—a police polygraph expert with his own history of crisis—have found a love that is a solace in a dangerous world. But then the unexpected upends their new marriage, leading them both to question everything they thought they knew.
Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is an epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.
Review:
Jodi Picoult truly never misses for me. Her novels often tackle difficult, complicated subjects, and Hollow Bones is no exception, but once again, I was blown away by how thoughtfully and thoroughly she handled everything.
I’m intentionally going to keep this review vague because I genuinely think this is a book you should experience knowing as little as possible. I’ve already seen reviews that discuss some of the larger themes and issues explored here, and personally, I would have considered some of that information a spoiler. If you’re comfortable going into a book relatively blind, the synopsis tells you everything you need to know.
I also wasn’t prepared for how emotional the 9/11 element of the story would make me. For anyone old enough to remember that day—to remember exactly where you were, what you were doing, and what it felt like to watch something so unimaginable unfold—there is an additional emotional weight to this story that is difficult to describe. Picoult captures not only the enormity of the tragedy, but the way a single day can become a permanent dividing line between before and after. Twenty five years later, those memories still feel startlingly immediate, and I found those parts of the novel incredibly moving.
What I can say is that this is an incredibly layered, emotional story that feels hauntingly timely in ways I wasn’t expecting. There is so much here about the stories we tell ourselves, the things we believe we can control, and the complicated bonds between people we love. Whether you come to it as a mother, daughter, sister, friend—or simply as a person trying to make sense of an unpredictable world—I think there will be something here that hits close to home.
The characters are incredibly well drawn, and Picoult gives them the kind of depth and complexity that makes it impossible to reduce anyone to a simple right or wrong. The story feels meticulously researched without ever losing its emotional core, and the structure kept me completely invested as everything slowly came together.
And book clubs? Get ready. There is so much to unpack here. I can already imagine the discussions, debates, differing perspectives, and “but what would you have done?” conversations this one will inspire.
I could keep gushing, but honestly, the less I say, the better. Hollow Bones is powerful, thought provoking, beautifully written, and deeply emotional. It’s the kind of book that reminds me exactly why I continue to pick up everything Jodi Picoult writes and it’s definitely not one I’ll forget anytime soon.
Perfect for readers who love:
- Thought provoking contemporary fiction
- Emotional, character driven stories
- Complicated family dynamics
- Mothers and daughters at the heart of a story
- Dual timelines
- Morally complex situations
- Novels that spark serious book club discussion
- Books that stay with you long after the final page
Overall rating: 5/5
Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.
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