The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

I love Jody Picoult. Tens of thousands of others do, too, so I'm in a big Club.

'The Storyteller' tells to tale of Sage Singer, a secular Jewish young woman who works in a cafe bakery at night and sleeps during the day. Her face has been scarred in a car crash (we learn later how and why) and this makes her shun company; a night job suits her fine. Her grandmother was born in Germany and a parallel story reveals what happened to her, and her family, during the 1930s and 40s.

Josef Webber, an elderly retired teacher and mentor of young people, is also from Germany. When he befriends Sage at the bakery, she is warmed by his interest and the friendship he offers until he tells her that he has chosen her, deliberately, because she is the only Jewish person he can find in their small town. He tells Sage that he was a concentration camp guard and that, now he is old and riven with guilt, he wants her to help him die. He explains that only by asking a Jew can he come some way of atoning for what he did in Germany.

Sage is appalled and, in the turmoil of trying to decide what to do, she tells her story to a professional Nazi hunter. In the days that follow she learns how hard it is to convict a war criminal and her mind won't let go of Joseph's plea that she helps him to die. Learning her grandmother's secret history puts her in a turmoil.

How does Sage decide, and what does she decide? I won't spoil the story by giving away the ending but you will wonder about yourself, when you read what she decides, how you would act in her situation.

This is Jody Picoult's skill. She writes a rattling good story but there is always a morale dilemma at the heart of every single one of her books.  Recommended.

'The Storyteller' is published by Hodder and Stoughton, ISBN - Hardback 978-1-444-76663-9. Trade paperback 978-1-444-76664-6. Ebook 978-1-444-76665-3.