I can’t say it never, ever, ever happens, because it’s a complicated and imperfect world. Generally speaking, women don’t lie about rape. But the thing that really troubled me is that he probably shouldn’t. and suddenly he’s facing a fresh set of rape charges leveled at him by a hysterical, damaged Gillian. He’s sure he didn’t rape her, but can he get anybody else – even the woman he loves – to believe him?

A series of events leads Jack into the same forest that same night. One night the girls sneak into the forest for a clandestine Beltane celebration – after all, not only is their new religion a secret, but there’s a sexual predator on the loose. She and her three best friends have taken up Wicca, and Gillian’s been casting some love spells to try to get Jack’s attention. He doesn’t want to leave, though, because he’s begun to fall in love with the owner of a nearby diner – incredibly, a woman who herself was raped in her youth and spent ten years raising a child thus conceived.Įnter Gillian Duncan, troubled local teen with a wealthy daddy and a lot of issues she keeps close to her vest. As part of the conditions of his plea-bargain, he has to register as a sex offender, and as word gets around he finds himself increasingly unwelcome. It’s the story of a man called Jack, wrongfully convicted of rape, who serves his time and settles in a new town, Salem Falls. I have a really hard time deciding how to feel about Salem Falls. She takes on the hard questions without providing easy answers. She’s so great at getting you to see perspectives other than your own, and to understand points of view you’d otherwise never consider.

I like her precisely because she always challenges me. I think Jodi Picoult is an amazing writer.

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