Last night, Jodi Picoult appeared at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York City to promote her new title, Sing You Home. She surprised her fans with a free concert.
The book features a 10-track CD by music teacher Ellen Wilber— Picoult wrote the lyrics for the album. Wilber performed three songs at the bookstore event: “Sing You Home,” “Faith,” and “Sammy’s Song.” The “Sing You Home” song is featured in the book trailer embedded above.
Picoult also shared the back story for this novel, revealing that her oldest son Kyle came out as a homosexual while she wrote the book. She explained: “I have wanted to write about gay rights for a long time … People who are gay want the same thing straight people want. They want to be happy … there’s not much mystery to it.”
Picoult wanted to include music because the book’s protagonist, Zoe Baxter, works as a professional music therapist. The novel explores hot button topics such as gay marriage, homophobia, and frozen embryos. During her research process, she interviewed lawyers, music therapists, and members of the Focus on the Family organization.