title: Songs of the Humpback Whale: A Novel in Five Voices
author:  Jodi Picoult 
description: As Picoult uses five voices to tell a complex tale of love, friendship and a Faulknerian family history, her mastery of language strongly individuates her characters. The primary voice in this accomplished first novel belongs to Jane Jones, a speech pathologist living in San Diego, Calif. Other narrators are her daughter Rebecca; her husband, Oliver, a marine biologist renowned for his research on the songs of humpback whales; her brother Joley; and her lover, Sam. When an argument between Jane and Oliver culminates in her striking him, Jane is shattered. A childhood victim of physical and sexual abuse, Jane has tried to submerge her memories, but this outbreak of violence causes her to reexamine her life. On a cross-country automobile trip, Jane and Rebecca travel to Stow, Mass., where Joley is living and where each woman meets the man she believes is her destiny. Jane relates the events that occur from San Diego to Stow, while Rebecca tells the story in reverse, flashing back from the climax. Their stories intersect in an Iowa cornfield that still bears the wreckage of the airliner on which then-three-year-old Rebecca was being sent back to her father during her parents' earlier separation; she was one of five survivors. This powerful and affecting novel demonstrates that there are as many truths to a story as there are people to tell it. <BR>Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: **“Picoult writes with a fine touch, a sharp eye for detail, and a firm grasp
  of the delicacy and complexity of human relation’ ships.”**
  
  — _ **The Boston Globe**_
  
  PRAISE FOR JODI PICOULT AND
  
   _ **SONGS OF THE HUMPBACK WHALE**_
  
  “In her remarkable and vibrant first novel, Jodi Picoult displays near perfect
  pitch. _SONGS OF THE HUMPBACK WHALE_ is ingeniously structured and reminiscent
  of early Anne Tyler. Picoult has written a compelling story of family, of loss
  and misunderstanding, and reconciliation. Her characters are made real through
  their brilliant voices. Indeed, this novel sings.”
  
  — _Mary Morris_
  
  “Charming and poignant, Picoult’s novel is even better after a second
  reading.”
  
  — _Library Journal_
  
  “As Picoult uses five voices to tell a complex tale of love, friendship, and a
  Faulknerian family history, her mastery of language strongly individuates her
  characters. … This powerful and affecting novel demonstrates that there are as
  many truths to a story as there are people to