Talks & Entertainment

Of all the hot-button issues Jodi Picoult has explored in her bestselling novels, probably none is more divisive and emotional than the one at the heart of her new book, Sing You Home, about a same-sex couple and their attempts to have a child.

Zoe is a music therapist who spent years trying to get pregnant with her husband, Max. They tried everything, but when she miscarries again, he walks out on her. Meanwhile, Zoe finds herself falling in love – this time with a friend, Vanessa. When they decide they want to have a child using Zoe and Max’s frozen embryos, Max takes them to court, where their lifestyle and desire for a child can be questioned in the public eye.

Sing You Home includes a CD of original songs – meant to be the voice of Zoe – created for the novel by Ellen Wilber (lyrics by Picoult). Wilber will perform at the event. Picoult will be in conversation with Ron Charles, deputy editor and a weekly fiction critic for The Washington Post “Book World.”