Larger Than Life Jodi Picoult Novels & Stories

It's fascinating to see an author's bibliography become a timeline of societal anxieties. Early 90s: personal family trauma, adultery. Late 90s/2000s: assisted suicide, school shootings, racism. 2010s: mass shootings, immigration, abortion. 2020s: pandemic, domestic violence. She's like a novelist journalist chronicling the American psyche's pain points. The evolution is less about her personal growth as a writer and more about her antenna being finely tuned to the cultural moment. She's a barometer.

Let's get this list straight, because I've seen some messed up orders online. It starts with 'Songs of the Humpback Whale' from 1992, then 'Harvesting the Heart' (1994), 'Picture Perfect' (1995). After that, 'Mercy' (1996), 'The Pact' (1998), 'Keeping Faith' (1999). The 2000s kick off with 'Plain Truth' (2000), 'Salem Falls' (2001), 'Perfect Match' (2002), 'Second Glance' (2003), 'My Sister's Keeper' (2004). Then 'Vanishing Acts' (2005), 'The Tenth Circle' (2006), 'Nineteen Minutes' (2007), 'Change of Heart' (2008), 'Handle with Care' (2009). Next is 'House Rules' (2010), 'Sing You Home' (2011), 'Lone Wolf' (2012), 'The Storyteller' (2013), 'Leaving Time' (2014). She co-wrote 'Between the Lines' with Samantha van Leer (2012) and 'Off the Page' (2015), which are YA and fit in there. Then 'Small Great Things' (2016), 'A Spark of Light' (2018), 'The Book of Two Ways' (2020). Her most recent novels are 'Wish You Were Here' (2021) and 'Mad Honey' (2022) co-written with Jennifer Finney Boylan. She also has a few early out-of-print titles and short story collections, but this is the core novel list in order.

Whew, that's a lot of typing. Hope it helps someone out there who's trying to collect them all chronologically.

I keep a note in my phone with the ones I've read, and I just add the new one every couple of years when it comes out. My list is out of order because I read whatever my library has available. It's chaotic, but it works for me. I'm currently missing three of the very early ones and 'A Spark of Light.' I'll get to them eventually. The point is, you don't need the perfect ordered list to enjoy her work. Just grab one that sounds interesting. They're all self-contained emotional rollercoasters. The order is for the completionists, but the stories are for everyone.