Salem Falls

Last updated
Salem Falls
Salemfallscover.jpg
First edition
AuthorJodi Picoult
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Publication date
23 April 2001
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages434 pp
ISBN 0-7434-1870-0
OCLC 45556191
813/.54 21
LC Class PS3566.I372 S26 2001

Salem Falls (2001) is the eighth novel by the American author Jodi Picoult. The novel explores what happens to a person when he is given a label and is not allowed to escape from it.

Contents

Plot summary

Jack is a highly educated high school teacher at a private school for girls in New England. However, he is falsely accused of committing statutory rape with one of his students. Following his lawyer's advice, he accepts a plea bargain for a lesser charge and is sentenced to eight months in prison. [1] Jack's mother refuses to believe his claims of innocence and abandons him.

After serving his sentence, Jack wants to have a fresh start, which he finds when he wanders into a diner in Salem Falls, New Hampshire. Without disclosing his past, he is hired as a dishwasher. He begins a romantic relationship with Addie Peabody, the woman who operates the diner with her father, Roy. At the time, she is still mourning the death of her young daughter, Chloe, who died from bacterial meningitis at age six. Under law, he is required to register with the local police as a convicted sex offender. As this is public record, the entire town becomes aware of his past. However, Addie does not change her attitude toward him.

Simultaneously, the novel focuses on local teenage girls who experiment with Wicca: disturbed Gillian, the daughter of Amos Duncan a prominent businessman; Chelsea; Whitney; and Meg. One night, after a fight with Addie, Jack accidentally stumbles upon them in the woods while they are celebrating the Wiccan holiday of Beltane. He is accused of sexually assaulting Gillian. Due to his intoxicated state at the time, he is unable to recall exactly where he was that night.

Jack is defended by attorney Jordan McAfee. Throughout the trial, Jordan casts reasonable doubt on Gillian's testimony. However, Meg confides in Addie that she remembers Jack touching her in a sexual manner. Addie takes Meg to report the incident to policeman Charlie, who is Meg's father. Clues begin to unravel that Gillian has been lying about the assault. Sources allege that she and her clique were taking hallucinogenic drugs. The initial blood screening test Gillian takes show no evidence of drugs. Jordan hires a private toxicologist to run tests on the blood samples, which reveal extreme amounts of a hallucinogen. Gillian's psychiatric records note that she was known to be a compulsive liar after the death of her mother.

Chelsea, feeling a sense of conscience, mails "The Book of Shadows" (a witch's handbook and proof that the teenagers are part of a witch's coven) to Thomas, Jordan's son, who takes it to Jordan. Jordan uses the book as evidence against Gillian and Jack is found not guilty. After the trial, Meg tells her father that Gillian convinced the teenagers to fabricate everything as a game to see if they could ruin Jack's life because Gillian was attracted to him and he turned her down. Meg's report of Jack having touched her is found to be accidental, as Jack was saving Meg from a fall and accidentally touched her breast.

Addie tells Jack that she was gang-raped at sixteen by Charlie and Amos. As such, she never knew who Chloe's father was. Jack asks Addie to move with him to New York in an effort to reconcile with his mother. Addie agrees.

The final twist is saved for the last paragraph: Amos has been sexually abusing Gillian since she was a young child, and it is likely that the seminal fluid found on Gillian's thigh is his, not Jack's.

Characters

Film adaptation

The film debuted November 19, 2011 on Lifetime Television. Filming started August 10, 2011, according to Picoult. [2] The film stars James Van Der Beek, Sarah Carter, and Amanda Michalka. [3] Some scenes from the film were shot in and around the town of Fergus in Centre Wellington, Ontario, Canada. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodi Picoult</span> American author

Jodi Lynn Picoult is an American writer. Picoult has published 28 novels, as well as 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 languages. She was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for fiction in 2003.

<i>My Sisters Keeper</i> (novel) 2004 novel by Jodi Picoult

My Sister's Keeper is the eleventh novel by the American author Jodi Picoult. Published in 2004, it tells the story of thirteen-year-old Anna Fitzgerald, who sues her parents for medical emancipation when she is told to donate a kidney to her elder sister Kate, who is suffering from acute leukemia.

<i>The Pact</i> (novel) 1998 novel by Jodi Picoult

The Pact (1998) is the fifth novel by the American author Jodi Picoult about a possible suicide pact between two teenage lovers, and the journey that one must take after losing a loved one.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chloe Richards</span> Fictional character from Home and Away

Chloe Richards is a fictional character from the Australian television soap opera Home and Away, played by Kristy Wright. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 28 June 1995. Chloe left in 1999, making a short return stint in 2005 when she died from the resulting injuries of a car crash. Chloe has relationships with Jack Wilson, Curtis Reed, Lachlan Fraser, James Fraser and Jesse McGregor.

<i>Hope Was Here</i>

Hope Was Here is a 2000 novel by Joan Bauer. It was declared a Newbery Honor Book in 2001. The audiobook read by Jenna Lamia won the AudioFile Earphones Award. In 2001 won the award Best Books for Young Adults from American Library Association (ALA).

<i>Nineteen Minutes</i> 2007 novel by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes (2007) is the fourteenth novel by the American author, Jodi Picoult. It was Picoult's first book to debut at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. This novel follows the unfolding of a school shooting, including the events leading up to the incident and the aftermath of the incident.

<i>Second Glance</i> 2003 novel by Jodi Picoult

Second Glance (2003) is the tenth novel by the American author, Jodi Picoult.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melissa Horton</span> Soap opera character

Melissa Horton is a fictional character from the NBC soap opera, Days of Our Lives.

<i>The Tenth Circle</i> 2006 novel by Jodi Picoult

The Tenth Circle (2006) is the thirteenth novel by the American author, Jodi Picoult. The novel deals with date rape, and father/daughter relationships. The novel heavily references Dante Alighieri's Inferno.

<i>Change of Heart</i> (novel) 2008 novel by Jodi Picoult

Change of Heart is the sixteenth novel by American author Jodi Picoult, published in 2008. The novel explores themes of loss, redemption, religion and spirituality, and punishment.

<i>Songs of the Humpback Whale</i> (novel) 1992 novel by Jodi Picoult

Songs of the Humpback Whale (1992) is the debut novel of Jodi Picoult. The book is about Jane, a woman who chooses to leave her emotionally abusive and distant husband behind in favor of driving across the country from San Diego, California to live with her brother in Massachusetts on an apple orchard. Her teenage daughter, Rebecca, chooses to come with her. Oliver, her husband, tracks them down in an attempt to save his family.

<i>Handle with Care</i> (novel) 2009 novel by Jodi Picoult

Handle with Care (2009) is the 17th novel by the American author Jodi Picoult. It debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list.

<i>The Tenth Circle</i> (film) Canadian TV series or program

The Tenth Circle is a 2008 Canadian drama/mystery television film directed by Peter Markle and starring Kelly Preston, Ron Eldard, Jamie Johnston, Britt Robertson, and Haley Beauchamp. It is based on a Jodi Picoult novel of the same name. The film premiered on June 28, 2008, on Lifetime.

<i>House Rules</i> (novel) 2010 novel by Jodi Picoult

House Rules (2010) is the eighteenth novel by the American author, Jodi Picoult. The novel focuses on a young adult male, Jacob Hunt, with Asperger's syndrome living in Townshend, Vermont, who is accused of murder. The novel follows the struggle between Jacob and his family, the law, and his disability.

<i>Lone Wolf</i> (Picoult novel) 2012 novel by Jodi Picoult

Lone Wolf (2012) is the twentieth novel by the American author, Jodi Picoult and it is a New York Times bestselling book. The novel was released on February 28, 2012 through Atria Books and focuses on a man returning to his childhood home after a terrible accident.

<i>Between the Lines</i> (novel) 2012 novel by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer

Between the Lines is a young adult (YA) fiction novel co-written by the American author, Jodi Picoult, and her daughter, Samantha Van Leer. Between the Lines is Picoult's first YA novel, and Van Leer's first published work. The novel was published on June 26, 2012 by Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. Picoult and Van Leer authored a sequel called Off the Page, which was released in 2015 by Delacorte Press. Off the Page continues the story of Delilah and Oliver.

<i>Small Great Things</i> 2016 novel by Jodi Picoult

Small Great Things (2016) is the twenty-fifth novel by American author Jodi Picoult. The book focuses on race in America and revolves around the protagonist, a delivery nurse, named Ruth Jefferson. Small Great Things is being adapted into a film starring Viola Davis and Julia Roberts. This is Picoult's first novel with an African American protagonist.

<i>Off the Page</i> (novel) 2015 young adult novel

Off the Page is a young adult fiction novel co-written by American author Jodi Picoult and her daughter, Samantha Van Leer. Off the Page is Picoult's second YA novel, and also Van Leer's second published work. The novel was published on May 19, 2015, by Ember Publishing, an imprint of Random House Publishing Group and Delacorte Press. It is the second novel in the Between The Lines trilogy, following Between the Lines.

<i>Leaving Time</i> 2014 novel by Jodi Picoult

Leaving Time is a 2014 novel by American writer Jodi Picoult. It is the twenty-third novel written by the author. The first edition was published on October 14, 2014, by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House.

References

  1. Catherine Hinman (June 22, 2001). "'Salem Falls,' by Jodi Picoult; (June, 2001)". The Orlando Sentinel . Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  2. Picoult, Jodi (2011-07-14). "Salem Falls". Facebook. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  3. "Salem Falls". IMDB. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  4. Robinson, Mike (2012-02-17). "Salem Falls - but Fergus rocks at premiere". Wellington Advertiser. Retrieved 2012-08-19.