Hollow Bones

Jodi Picoult, a #1 New York Times best-selling author known for issue-driven novels like My Sister’s Keeper (2004), has received accolades such as the New England Bookseller Award for Fiction and an Alex Award. Her 2026 novel Hollow Bones continues this tradition of exploring complex moral dilemmas through contemporary fiction. The story centers on Molly Fitzgerald, a 25-year-old emergency-preparedness chief whose life has been shaped by the belief that her mother, Eloise, died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. When Molly discovers that her mother is alive and living under a different name, she must unravel a hidden history of trauma and secrets that challenges her entire identity. The novel’s publication coincides with ongoing cultural conversations surrounding maternal mental health, particularly postpartum psychosis and its treatment within the American legal system.

Through a dual narrative that alternates between Molly’s present-day shock and Eloise’s harrowing past, the novel examines several key themes. The story explores The Cost of Family Secrets, revealing how deceptions designed to protect loved ones can cause harm over generations. It also provides a critical look at The Vilification of Mental Illness, challenging societal judgments by portraying a mother’s postpartum psychosis as a medical crisis. Ultimately, Hollow Bones is an exploration of Transformation as the Key to Survival, showing how individuals shattered by public and private catastrophes must piece together new lives from the fragments of who they once were.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, death by suicide, child death, graphic violence, rape, child sexual abuse, child abuse, emotional abuse, racism, pregnancy loss, illness, mental illness, suicidal ideation, and substance use.

Plot Summary

In September 2026, Molly Fitzgerald is the 25-year-old chief of the Center for Emergency Preparedness and Response for Rhode Island. Her life is defined by her career mitigating disasters, a psychological defense mechanism stemming from the supposed death of her mother, Eloise Ambrose, in the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City on 9/11. She’s married to Jesse Fitzgerald, a Providence police detective and polygraph expert. Jesse’s own traumatic past, involving his sister Kate’s cancer and his sister Anna’s death, allows him to understand Molly’s grief. Molly maintains a strained relationship with her father, Adam Ambrose, a forensic engineer who believes that 9/11 was a government conspiracy, and a loving one with her stepmother, Evie Ambrose, who was Eloise’s best friend. 

After an exercise involving a simulated plane crash at T.F. Green International Airport, Molly feels faint and visits a doctor, where she discovers that she’s pregnant. Her initial reaction is panic over her career, while Jesse is overjoyed. They decide to keep the pregnancy a secret for now. A few months later, Molly rushes to the emergency room after a fall induces premature contractions. A kind hospital receptionist named Georgia Gilligan stays with her, providing comfort while Jesse is away for work. The crisis passes, but the experience terrifies Molly. The family’s world is upended at a celebratory dinner when Adam sees Georgia, recognizes her, and calls her by his first wife’s name.

The narrative flashes back to reveal Eloise’s past. She is raised in Borden Springs, Alabama, and her father, Ezekiel Owens, is a tyrannical Evangelical preacher. She finds solace only in art. Her life is one of strict religious control, culminating in a public whipping by her father for drawing a boy’s naked torso. Her world shatters when she discovers that her father is sexually abusing her younger sister, Adie. When she confronts her mother, Euphemia, she’s met with willful ignorance. Shortly after, Adie dies by suicide after overdosing on their mother’s medication. When Ezekiel makes a sexual advance toward Eloise after the funeral, she runs away. She reinvents herself as Eloise Mills, attends the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) on a scholarship, and becomes a gifted mosaic artist. At RISD, she meets her brash, loyal roommate, Evie D’Addario, and a charming Brown University student, Adam Ambrose. A love triangle forms, and though Evie is initially interested in Adam, he and Eloise fall in love, causing a rift between the friends that eventually heals.

Eloise and Adam move to New York City, elope with Evie as their witness, and settle into an apartment in Washington Heights. Soon after, Eloise becomes pregnant with Molly. Following a difficult birth, Eloise develops postpartum psychosis (PPP). She experiences insomnia, anxiety, and auditory hallucinations of Satan telling her that she must kill her baby to save her soul. She’s misdiagnosed with postpartum depression and given a prescription for Zoloft. It causes an adverse reaction, exacerbating her psychosis. Her mental state deteriorates, a fact that Adam struggles to accept. On September 10, 2001, a terrified Eloise calls Evie for help. The next morning, Evie accuses Eloise of trying to drown the baby. Evie convinces a reluctant Adam to make an emergency psychiatry appointment for Eloise the next day, September 11, in the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Adam is scheduled to fly in from a business trip to meet them.

On the morning of September 11, Molly has a fever, so Evie stays with her and sends Eloise to the appointment alone in a cab. As the taxi approaches the World Trade Center, the first plane hits the North Tower. Eloise gets out and witnesses the horror, including people jumping from the building. The second plane then strikes the South Tower, precisely where she was headed. The shock of the attack provides a moment of clarity through her psychosis; she realizes that to protect Molly from the voice telling her to commit murder, she must disappear. She joins the exodus of survivors walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. In her fractured state, she takes a bus to Atlanta, Georgia, where she attempts suicide in a motel room. She’s found by a maid, hospitalized, and finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She invents a new identity, calling herself Georgia Gilligan and telling authorities that her baby died of sudden infant death syndrome. The maid from the hospital, named Ximena, takes her in and helps her find a job. Over the years, Georgia builds a new, quiet life while secretly monitoring Molly’s life via a private investigator and, later, social media. When she learns that Molly is pregnant, she fears that Molly may have inherited a predisposition for PPP and decides that she must return to watch over her.

The narrative returns to the present. The family is in turmoil. Molly, hurt and furious, initially refuses to speak with Georgia. Evie tells Molly that Eloise had PPP and tried to drown her as an infant, a story that frames Eloise’s disappearance as an escape born of guilt. Jesse, however, becomes suspicious of Evie’s account. He recalls Adam mentioning that the water to the master bathroom in their old apartment had been turned off for one of Eloise’s mosaic projects. This detail proves that it would have been impossible for Eloise to attempt to drown Molly in the tub. At a family dinner, Jesse confronts Evie, who tearfully admits that she lied about the drowning attempt to scare Adam into getting Eloise psychiatric help, never imagining the tragic consequences. The revelation devastates the family. Adam separates from Evie, and Molly begins to truly reconcile with Georgia.

Just as they’re rebuilding their relationship, a former college acquaintance, Chad, recognizes Georgia as Eloise and leaks the story to the press. A media circus erupts, portraying Georgia as a fraud who faked her death. To control the narrative and protect her mother, Molly gives an exclusive interview to 60 Minutes, where she publicly explains PPP and frames her mother’s actions as a desperate act of protection. To confront their shared trauma, Molly and Georgia travel to the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. They visit the Survivor Tree and find Eloise’s name engraved at the memorial pool. The trip is a deeply emotional and healing experience. However, as they’re leaving, Georgia is struck by a car in a hit-and-run accident.

Georgia is rushed to the hospital with a severe brain injury. At her mother’s bedside, Molly is terrified of losing her again just after finding her. The fear solidifies her love and forgiveness. After a tense period of uncertainty, Georgia recovers from her injuries. Four years later, the family has found a new equilibrium. Molly and Jesse; their four-year-old daughter, Adie; and a healthy Georgia visit the 9/11 Memorial together. Evie has moved to California and started a new life. Molly is now pregnant with her second child, a daughter she plans to name Eloise. The family, though forever changed, has survived disaster and found hope and a new beginning.