History Literature / HandleWithCare

** [[spoiler:Ice-skating being something that Willow isn't allowed to do.]]

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Analyzed heavily. What a wrongful birth lawsuit basically says is that the parents, had they known their child had a debilitating illness, would have aborted. [[spoiler:In the flashbacks to Charlotte's pregnancy, it's shown that Charlotte ''did'' think about abortion, not wanting her child to have such a difficult life - but her fellow practicing Catholic husband, Sean, was obviously not at all receptive to the idea, and so she never brought it up to him. After speaking with a nearby neighbor who had had an abortion a couple of years prior for similar reasons and regretted it, Charlotte ends up deciding to keep Willow.]]

%%* LittlestCancerPatient: Willow.

** The latter is sadly TruthInTelevision for many parents of their generation.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: As Amelia herself bitterly lampshades, none of the novel's plot would have happened had Amelia not forgotten the emergency room doctor's note explaining Willow's disease.

** The latter is sadly TruthInTelevision for parents of their generation.

* HopeSpot: At the beginning of the epilogue, Willow indicates (in her own way) that while things aren't totally back to normal, the cracks in the family are starting to mend, that Amelia has returned from treatment and is doing great in her recovery, and that she (Willow) is excitedly preparing to go to camps for children with her disorder, allowing her to make friends and gain some independence. Then Willow gets the idea to try out "ice skating" on the pond...

* HopeSpot: At the beginning of the epilogue, Willow indicates that while things aren't totally back to normal, the cracks in the family are starting to mend, that Amelia has returned from treatment and is doing great in her recovery, and that she (Willow) is going to camps for children with her disorder, allowing her to make friends and gain some independence. Then Willow gets the idea to try out "ice skating" on the pond...

* HopeSpot: At the beginning of the epilogue, Willow indicates that the cracks in the family are starting to mend, that Amelia has returned from treatment and is doing great in her recovery, and that she (Willow) is going to camps for children with her disorder, allowing her to make friends and gain some independence. Then Willow gets the idea to try out "ice skating" on the pond...

* IllGirl / LittlestCancerPatient: Willow.

* YourCheatingHeart: Sean and Piper share a kiss while Piper's fallen out with her husband and Sean is separated from Charlotte. It doesn't go anywhere, though.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Picoult admitted to taking liberties with the way juries are selected in order to make that section of the novel more interesting.

* PetTheDog: Piper's sleazy lawyer, Guy Booker, gets exactly one humanizing moment in the novel: When he spots Amelia hanging around without parental supervision, he tells her to go home because her mother has enough to worry about at the moment. (Like the fact that he's fighting against her in a lawsuit, for example.)

* TheUnfavourite: Amelia, since Willow is basically the centre of the O'Keefe family. For the most part, Amelia is not allowed to do things that Willow can't do. For example, the trip to Walt Disney World, where Amelia is only allowed to go on the rides that Willow can go on, rather than [[FridgeLogic her parents taking them on separate rides]]. To add insult to injury, by the end of the book, with Amelia left friendless, neglected and self-recriminating, Charlotte and Sean subject her to a tirade of abuse when Amelia's [[spoiler:self-harming and bulimic]] problems are revealed, complaining that they "don't understand" what her problem is.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: As Amelia herself bitterly lampshades, none of the novel's plot would have happened had Amelia not forgotten the emergency doctor's note explaining Willow's disease.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The whole drama of the novel centres around Charlotte claiming, in a court of law, that she wishes her youngest daughter wasn't in her life. [[spoiler:DiabolusExMachina ensures that her wish is granted -- in the most grim way possible]].

** The pond at the O'Keefe's house.

* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:Charlotte throws her best friend under the bus to pay for her daughter's medical bills, only for her daughter to die in a freak drowning accident less than a month later.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Charlotte, as a narcissistic [[TheCaretaker caretaker]], comes across this way. She dwells on all the sacrifices ''she'' has had to make, while dismissing everyone else's woes because she doesn't think that they count for as much. Even ''Willow's'' feelings are summarily dismissed at key points in the novel. In the course of the story, even she is forced to recognise how selfish her actions have been.

* MotherhoodIsSuperior: Charlotte belives this. "Oh, Sean...You're the best father. But you're not a mother." Deconstructed, though, in that she is a TautologicalTemplar-type antagonist who uses this as the centerpoint of [[OmniscientMoralityLicense her martyr complex]] and drags the entire family down to Hell with her.

* ParentalFavoritism: As in all of Jodi Picoult's novels. Charlotte's daughter from her previous marriage, Amelia, is forgotten about. She eventually starts cutting herself and develops bulimia. The person who notices, in fact, is not Charlotte or Sean but Piper, the ob/gyn they are suing.

!!!Tropes:

[[TheSimpsons Not to be confused with the short-lived Troy McClure sitcom about Jack Handle, retired cop who shares an apartment with a retired criminal]].

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The whole drama of the novel centres around Charlotte claiming, in a court of law, that she wishes her youngest daughter wasn't in her life. [[spoiler: DiabolusExMachina ensures that her wish is granted -- in the most grim way possible]].

* ChekhovsGun: The pond at the O'Keefe's house. Also, [[spoiler: ice-skating being something that Willow isn't allowed to do.]]
** Amelia [[spoiler: being on the witness list.]]

* ContrivedCoincidence: The jury pool for Charlotte's trial just happens to include [[spoiler: Marin's biological mother.]]

* [[spoiler: DownerEnding: Charlotte has effectively driven herself and Amelia into near-complete isolation, Piper loses her career, and Willow drowns in the skating pond, essentially rendering the entire lawsuit pointless.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: Piper's husband Rob had an older brother with bipolar disorder who committed suicide at the age of seventeen. Later, it's subverted with [[spoiler: Willow. She ends up in the hospital after slashing her wrists and everyone thinks that she was trying to kill herself - except Amelia, who figures out that Willow was just imitating her.]]

* EtTuBrute: Charlotte backstabbing her loyal friend, Piper, ruining her entire career in order to get money from the ensuing lawsuit. It's a KickTheDog moment for Charlotte, but in-universe, Piper comes off worst; the last we hear of her [[spoiler: she's working part-time at a free clinic, having lost her former position, and judging by the stilted conversation she has with Willow and Sean, this is ''not'' where she wants to be.]]
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Analyzed heavily. What a wrongful birth lawsuit basically says is that the parents, had they known their child had a debilitating illness, would have aborted. [[spoiler: In the flashbacks to Charlotte's pregnancy, it's shown that Charlotte ''did'' think about abortion, not wanting her child to have such a difficult life - but her fellow practicing Catholic husband, Sean, was obviously not at all receptive to the idea, and so she never brought it up to him. After speaking with a nearby neighbor who had had an abortion a couple of years prior for similar reasons and regretted it, Charlotte ends up deciding to keep Willow.]]
* HappilyAdopted: Marin, which is why she didn't even consider looking for her biological parents until shortly before the novel began. [[spoiler: After the trial, she ends up getting a HappilyAdopted son named Anton.]]
** Also, Amelia. Her biological father was a drug addict who left Charlotte during her pregnancy, but she clearly considers Sean to be her father, although she sometimes feels that he couldn't possibly love her as much as Willow, his biological daughter.
* HonorBeforeReason: Because that [[spoiler:substantial check]] certainly wouldn't benefit anyone else...say, other children suffering from brittle bone disease.
** Or, for that matter, ''Amelia.'' The family still has medical bills to contend with, Willow's [[spoiler: and Amelia's]]. Charlotte's willing to make incredible emotional sacrifices [[spoiler: to obtain the payout for Willow, but can't bring herself to hold onto it for Amelia?]]

* ParentalAbandonment: Marin was adopted at birth and has never known her biological parents. [[spoiler: After months spent trying to track them down, she ends up getting her biological mother as a juror in Charlotte's trial, and subsequently discovers that her mother gave her up because she was [[ChildByRape the result of a brutal rape]].]]

* PyrrhicVictory: The outcome of the lawsuit for [[spoiler:Charlotte]].
** In more detail, [[spoiler: Charlotte is left friendless, with no social life, having betrayed her best friend through the lawsuit, and without her daughters. Amelia is left equally isolated by her mother's actions, having lost ''her'' best friend - Piper's daughter - who has turned all her classmates against her as well. She's also been shipped away to a clinic to sort out her bulimic and self-harming issues. Piper has lost her job and her reputation is destroyed. The O'Keefes never get around to cashing the cheque that Charlotte overturned their lives for, since Willow drowns in a freak accident and Charlotte puts the cheque in her coffin, making the Pyrrhic victory complete.]]
* SelfHarm: Amelia is a cutter. [[spoiler: Willow almost dies emulating Amelia later in the book.]]
* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler: Willow drowns in a freak accident at the end of the book, as detailed under PyrrhicVictory, rendering the main plot pointless. Everyone else winds up worse off than before, making it a glorious example of shaggy-dog shooting.]]

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Many reviews criticize [[spoiler: Willow's death]] for being this.
* TheUnfavourite: Amelia, since Willow is basically the centre of the O'Keefe family. For the most part, Amelia is not allowed to do things that Willow can't do. For example, the trip to Walt Disney World, where Amelia is only allowed to go on the rides that Willow can go on, rather than [[FridgeLogic her parents taking them on separate rides]]. To add insult to injury, by the end of the book, with Amelia left friendless, neglected and self-recriminating, Charlotte and Sean subject her to a tirade of abuse when Amelia's [[spoiler: self-harming and bulimic]] problems are revealed, complaining that they "don't understand" what her problem is.
* YourCheatingHeart: Sean and Piper share a kiss while Piper's fallen out with her husband and Sean is separated from Charlotte. It doesn't go anywhere, though.

* [[spoiler: ChildByRape]]: Marin.

* DiabolusExMachina

* ChekhovsGun: The pond at the O'Keefe's house.
** Also, [[spoiler: ice-skating being something that Willow isn't allowed to do.]]

* AmoralAttorney: Guy Booker, Piper's malpractice insurance lawyer.

* KnightTemplarParent: Charlotte, who pretty much ruins the life of everyone around her in order to secure Willow's future.
** In fact, the {{Aesop}} of the entire book is about precisely ''why'' it's bad to be a KnightTemplar. It may seem alright to do horrible things in the service of a noble cause, but they're still horrible things and if [[spoiler:the entire reason you did them becomes moot then all you're left with is the consequences of your own atrocities. It's basically Creator/CSLewis' famous speech on the doctrine of the second coming with more words and less religion]].
* MaritalRapeLicense: Done very creepily when [[spoiler:Sean rapes Charlotte while telling her that he loves her, as a way of demonstrating that words don't make actions any better.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: Sean and Piper share a kiss while Piper's fallen out with her husband and Sean is separated from Charlotte.

A 2009 novel by JodiPicoult.