''Second Glance'' (2003) is the tenth novel by the American author,
Jodi Picoult
Jodi Lynn Picoult () is an American writer. Picoult has published 28 novels, accompanying short stories, and has also written several issues of Wonder Woman. Approximately 40 million copies of her books are in print worldwide, translated into 34 ...
.
Plot summary
''Second Glance'' follows the lives of several characters throughout the book. In Picoult's signature writing style, the novel flashes back and forth many decades to piece together the story. The novel is set in the fictional town of Comtosook,
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
.
The story is about
Abenaki
The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...
territorial land that is planned to be turned into a shopping mall. However, if the Abenaki are able to show that an ancestor was buried on this expanse of land, then the mall cannot, legally, be built on the land.
Ross Wakeman arrives in Comtosook to stay with his sister, Shelby. Ross is the survivor of many varied suicide attempts, which began after his fiancée Aimee was killed in a car accident years ago. Ross became a ghost hunter in the hopes that someday he would encounter Aimee's spirit. Fortunately for Ross, when he arrives in Comtosook, the town begins to experience strange phenomena, as the result of the new plans to build a
strip mall on the Abenaki land.
Characters
*Ross Wakeman: The male protagonist, a ghost hunter who moves around the country, now living with his sister in Comtosook, Vermont.
*Shelby Wakeman: Ross's sister, Ethan's mother, divorced, a librarian with a passion for unusual, complicated words, and
etymology
Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...
.
*Ethan Wakeman: Ross's nine-year-old nephew and Shelby's son. He suffers from
Xeroderma pigmentosum
Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is a genetic disorder in which there is a decreased ability to repair DNA damage such as that caused by ultraviolet (UV) light. Symptoms may include a severe sunburn after only a few minutes in the sun, freckling in sun- ...
.
*Cecelia Pike/Lia Beaumont: A suicidal woman featured in the present-day as well as in flashbacks.
*Eli Rochert: A half-Abenaki police officer whose wife left him. After seeing Shelby in his dreams for weeks, he finds her and falls in love with her. He works with Ross to solve the murder mystery.
*Meredith Oliver: A woman who works doing
preimplantation genetic diagnosis. She is divorced, and has little luck with men. As a working mother, she relies on her grandmother, Ruby, to take care of her daughter.
*Lucy Oliver: The eight-year-old daughter of Meredith. She is intelligent for her age, but she sees things that nobody else can, including ghosts.
*Spencer Pike: Cecelia's husband, works as a eugenicist in the flashbacks. In the present-day, he lives at the Comtosook nursing home.
*John Delacour: Also known as, Gray Wolf and Az Thompson. A 102-year-old Abenaki man, the last surviving member of his tribe, and the suspected murderer of Cecelia Pike.
[Picoult, J (2003) ''Second Glance.'' New York, NY: Atria Books]
References
*Dooley, Susa
''Ghost World'' Review, Washington Post, May 18, 2003 T.13
*Vidmos, Robin
Eugenics plot enlivens ''"Second Glance"''Review, The Denver Post, April 20, 2003; Page EE-02
*Kayle, Hillary S.
Publishers Weekly, June 11, 2004
*Gershenbaum, Barbara Lipkie
''SECOND GLANCE''Review, Bookreporter.com,
{{Jodi Picoult
2003 American novels
Novels by Jodi Picoult
Novels set in Vermont