“Change of Heart” by Jodi Picoult is the selection currently being read by the Public Library Pageturners – the book club at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library.

The book will be discussed when the club meets Thursday, Oct. 22, at 10:15 a.m. in the Community Room at the library, 702 E. Front Ave. 

Copies of the book are available to check out at the Research and Information Desk. Participants who want to mark their copies or pass them on to friends and family should purchase copies from another source. The Coeur d’Alene library can also arrange to check out the book from other regional libraries.

“Change of Heart” tells the story of Shay Bourne - New Hampshire’s first death row prisoner in 69 years – who has only one last request: to donate his heart post-execution to the sister of his victim, who is looking for a transplant. Bourne says it’s the only way he can redeem himself, but with lethal injection as his form of execution, this is medically impossible.

Enter Father Michael Wright, a young local priest. Called in as Shay’s spiritual advisor, he knows redemption has nothing to do with organ donation – and plans to convince Bourne. But then Bourne begins to perform miracles at the prison that are witnessed by officers, fellow inmates, and even Father Michael – and the media begins to call him a messiah.

Could an unkempt, bipolar, convicted murderer be a savior? It seems highly unlikely, to the priest. Until he realizes that the things Shay says may not come from the Bible, but are, verbatim, from a gospel that the early Christian church rejected 2,000 years ago, and that is still considered heresy.

Picoult, 42, is the bestselling author of more than 15 novels. In 2003 she was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction. She has also been the recipient an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association, sponsored by the Margaret Alexander Edwards Trust and Booklist, one of ten books written for adults that have special appeal for young adults; the Book Browse Diamond Award for novel of the year; a lifetime achievement award for mainstream fiction from the Romance Writers of America; Cosmopolitan magazine’s ‘Fearless Fiction’ Award 2007; Waterstone’s Author of the Year in the UK, a Vermont Green Mountain Book Award, a Virginia Reader’s Choice Award, the Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award, and a Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award.

Most recently, she wrote five issues of the Wonder Woman comic book series for DC Comics. Her books are translated into 34 languages in 35 countries. Three of her books have been made into television movies. “My Sister’s Keeper,” a movie based on her book, premiered in theaters this summer.

News about the library and other city departments is also available on the City of Coeur d’Alene news blog: http://cdacity.blogspot.com/.