I have read Jodie Picoult books for many years and have enjoyed her writing device of presenting a moral dilemna for the reader because there are so many times in life we are faced with a problem with not one answer but many possible solutions. For example, in her early book, My Sister’s Keeper, parents decide to have a baby in order to harvest a kidney to save their older daughter. Were they right to do this to the unwitting baby? It is easy to argue for both sides. In Mad Honey, Picoult has co authored with Jennifer Finney Boylan another novel that requires much self examination. The story revolves around strong characters: Olivia, Lily and Asher. Olivia has escaped an abusive marriage with her son, Asher, who is now a senior in high school. They live a quiet life in a small community where Olivia is a bee keeper. A new girl, Lily, arrives and immediately forms a bond with Asher. All seems to be going well until one night when Lily is found dead in her home. Asher is arrested and the remainder of the book revolves around the trial and the revelations that unfold. The major and most significant disclosure in the trial is that Lily is a transgender girl who has undergone hormone replacement and surgical procedures that make it impossible for anyone, even a boyfriend, to tell that she has changed. As you can imagine, there is much trauma and angst as this secret comes out. But there are many more revelations that keep you guessing to the very end of the trial as to how Lily died. Picoult and Boylan manage to interweave many societal issues to explore along with transgender children, such as abuse (both mental and physical), prejudice, parental rights and privacy rights to name a few. One interesting fact that adds to the discussion is that Finney Boylan is a transgender woman who went through the surgical/hormonal operation when she was 40. Prior to that she was married to a woman and had two sons. As with many books we read, the title Mad Honey was puzzling. The bee keeper, Olivia, tells us much about a bee colony and its balanced culture which make it viable and productive. In particular, we learn that bees are able to change their sex or transform from one sex to another as is needed by the hive. The debate is whether people should change and choose too. I learned so much about this highly charged subject concerning transgender children. If for no other reason than to become better informed, I recommend this book.
