Jodi Picoult: Hollow Bones

Ladybird Books and Charleston Music Hall are proud to host #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult on Tuesday, September 29th to celebrate her 30th novel, Hollow Bones. Picoult is known for her vivid characters and exploration of the human experience, and her latest book is no exception. Set to publish on September 15, Hollow Bones is “a riveting novel about the risks we take to protect the ones we love in a world where crisis is always just around the corner.”

All tickets include a SIGNED copy of Hollow Bones and a professional photo with the author. The author will not be personalizing copies at the event.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name comes a riveting novel about the risks we take to protect the ones we love in a world where crisis is always just around the corner.

On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only two months old, her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home. Her father and the stepmother who raised her couldn’t have loved her more, but she still grew up with a healthy dread of disasters.

Now an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during storms, epidemics, and airplane crashes. She and her husband, Jesse—a police polygraph expert with his own history of crisis—have found a love that is a solace in a dangerous world. But then the unexpected upends their new marriage, leading them both to question everything they thought they knew.

Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is an epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.

Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, renowned for combining richly drawn characters with timely and thought-provoking themes. Her 30th novel, HOLLOW BONES, will publish on September 15, 2026. Her books, including Mad Honey (co-written with Jennifer Finney Boylan), Wish You Were Here, The Book of Two Ways, A Spark of Light, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister’s Keeper, have been translated widely and have reached millions of readers around the world. She has also co-authored two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page, with her daughter Samantha van Leer.

Picoult’s work is celebrated not only for its emotional depth and meticulous research but also for tackling complex moral and ethical issues with nuance and compassion. Whether writing about reproductive rights, racism, school shootings, or end-of-life choices, she invites readers into intimate, often controversial spaces that challenge assumptions and spark conversation.

In addition to her literary achievements, Picoult is a passionate and vocal advocate for intellectual freedom and the freedom to read. She has emerged as one of our nation’s most outspoken opponents of book banning, working with organizations such as PEN Americaand Unite Against Book Bans to defend the right to read. Her essays and speeches on the subject have resonated with educators, librarians, and readers nationwide.

Ladybird Books opened in October 2025 and is a Charleston-based independent bookstore that curates with consideration, compassion, and curiosity. Every shelf is built with a point of view, celebrating voice, place, community, and the complicated, magnificent work of being human. From contemporary Southern fiction and nonfiction to memoirs that break you open and cookbooks that carry culture, Ladybird is a living ode to story, how it shapes us, saves us, and stitches us together.

Warm and inviting, Ladybird hosts everything from readings and workshops to lively conversations, gathering good people from here and everywhere. Rooted in the South, Ladybird reaches for the whole world. Here you’ll find Imani Perry next to Flannery O’Connor, sociologists next to storytellers, modern spiritual guides alongside voices from the kitchen table. Some sections ask what the South holds. Others ask what you hold sacred. All invite the questions that keep us curious, open, and coming back for more.