Plain Truth By Jodi Picoult

I found this an enjoyable read and I learnt something about the Amish way of life.  The book opens with Katie Fisher, an Amish girl, awakening from a dream about her dead sister.  Her sister drowned whilst skating on the lake and Katie blames herself for her death as she was with her.  Katie is in pain and realises she is in labour.  She goes down to the barn so as not to disturb her family.  She has refused to acknowledge that she is pregnant and has managed to hide the pregnancy from her family and friends.  Alone in the barn she gives birth to a little boy.  She prays to God for guidance and exhausted she falls asleep.  When she wakes the infant is gone.    It as if her prayer has been answered and she was never pregnant.  The dead infant is discovered later that morning.  Katie swears she has no idea how the baby died and that it is nothing to do with her.  It is obvious from medical examinations that she has just given birth and that the infant was hers.  The whole community is in shock.   Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned big-city attorney, comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania to stay with her aunt and uncle – her aunt used to be Amish.  She ends up defending Katie and two cultures collide.  I saw the twist coming at the end a long time before it did and, although I thought it was a little unrealistic, it didn’t detract from the story as a whole.