My New Book: My Sister’s Keeper


My Sister’s Keeper is a book by Jodi Picoult that tells the story of a young girl who sues her parents for medical emancipation when she is expected to donate a kidney to her dying sister.

My Sister’s Keeper is a fictional novel written by Jodi Picoult. The story follows the life of 13- year-old Anna Fitzgerald, who enlists the help of an attorney, Campbell Alexander, to sue her parents for rights to her own body. Kate, Anna’s older sister, suffers from leukemia, and their parents conceived Anna through in vitro fertilisation to be a genetic match donor for her sister Kate. Anna donated genetic material throughout her life, such as blood and bone marrow. Now, their parents want Anna to donate a kidney to Kate, but Anna instead files a lawsuit against her parents for medical emancipation so she will not be forced to donate one of her kidneys to her sister.

Her parents, Brian and Sara Fitzgerald, have different reactions to the suit. Brian has mixed feelings while Sara feels that Anna should donate the kidney to save Kate’s life. Sara is a lawyer turned housewife and decides to represent the parents’ side in the suit. Sara attempts to get Anna to drop the suit, but Anna refuses and moves out of the house and into the fire station where her father works.

After Kate’s cancer diagnosis, Jesse, Brian and Sara’s oldest child, grows up to be a troublemaker involved in alcohol, drugs, theft, and arson. There has been an arsonist setting fires in the area that Brian and his fellow firefighters have been putting out. The arsonist is revealed to be Jesse, and Brian finds out the truth after finding clues. Brian confronts Jesse and learns how badly Kate’s illness has hurt him. Brian vows to keep Jesse’s arson a secret. Jesse eventually straightens himself out and becomes a police officer.

The judge at the hearing, Judge DeSalvo, is a parent who lost his child in a drunk-driving accident. The guardian ad litem assigned to Anna as her representative is Julia Romano, an old girlfriend of Campbell’s.

Julia and Campbell met in a private high school. She was a scholarship student from a poor background while he was a rich kid. They fell in love and enjoyed a relationship until Campbell broke up with her at graduation. Julia never knew the reason but felt it was because of her social class. Although they try to conduct court business, their attraction to each other is obvious.

Campbell has a guide dog named Judge even though Campbell seems to have no disabilities. He keeps the purpose of the dog a secret. Julia and Campbell spend the night together with Campbell being the first one to leave. Feeling abandoned again, Julia is frustrated about her relationship with Campbell. But when Campbell has a seizure during Anna’s testimony, the purpose of the dog is revealed: he is seizure dog. She discovers Campbell developed epilepsy after a wreck before graduation, and he broke up with her because he did not want to be a burden. She supports him, and they reunite. They eventually marry.

Campbell and Sara bring in their witnesses and battle over whether Anna is mature enough for medical emancipation. Julia, who is supposed to deliver a report about who she thinks should win, is undecided. Anna, who has refused to testify, is the last witness to speak. She reveals that Kate told her that she did not want Anna to go through with the transplant. That is why Anna started the lawsuit. The judge decides in favor of Anna and gives Campbell medical power of attorney over her.

Anna dies in a car wreck soon after she is emancipated from her parents. Her kidneys, and other organs, are donated to Kate, and other patients that might need them.

Kate thinks the reason she survived is because someone had to go, and Anna took her place. She grows up to be a dance instructor and it is said that whenever Kate missed her sister, she’d look at the scars from the kidney transplant and believe she took Anna wherever she went.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 21:32 and is filed under Bookworm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “My New Book: My Sister’s Keeper”

  1. Buy Spy Clock Says:

    You don’t say! Interesting…