Hollow Bones

Hollow Bones is a contemporary literary novel by Jodi Picoult that blends family drama, suspense, and emotional storytelling. The story follows Molly Fitzgerald, whose life is forever shaped by tragedy after her mother dies in the September 11, 2001 attacks when Molly is just two months old. Raised by her father and stepmother, Molly grows up with an intense awareness of life's unpredictability and dedicates her career to emergency preparedness.

As an adult, Molly leads Rhode Island's emergency preparedness agency, planning for disasters while building a life with her husband, Jesse Fitzgerald, a police polygraph expert. When an unexpected crisis threatens their marriage and challenges everything they believe about trust and family, Molly is forced to confront long-buried secrets, difficult moral choices, and the fragile stories people tell themselves to survive. Told across multiple timelines, the novel explores motherhood, grief, resilience, love, and the enduring impact of catastrophic events.