Monday, December 30, 2013

The Execution of Noa P. Singleton

My goal is to read 100 books by the end of 2013.  I just finished book 96.

The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver

Summary (via the book jacket):
Noa P. Singleton never spoke a word in her own defense throughout a brief trial that ended with a jury finding her guilty of first-degree murder.  Ten years later, having accepted her fate, she sits on death row in a maximum-security penitentiary, just six months away from her execution date.
Seemingly out of the blue, she is visited by Marlene Dixon, a high-powered Philadelphia attorney who is also the mother of the woman Noa was imprisoned for killing.  Marlene tells Noa that she has changed her mind about the death penalty and Noa's sentence, and will do everything in her considerable power to convince the governor to commute the sentence to life in prison, in return for the one thing Noa is unwilling to trade: her story.
Marlene desperately wants Noa to reveal the events that led to her daughter's death - events that only Noa knows of and that she has never shared with a soul.  With death looming, Marlene believes that Noa may finally give her the answers she needs, though Noa is far from convinced that Marlene deserves the salvation she alone can deliver.  Inextricably linked by murder but with very different goals, Noa and Marlene wrestle with the sentences life itself can impose while they confront the best and worst of what makes us human in this haunting tale of love, anguish, and deception.

My Opinion:
Wow.  This book was outstanding.  I can say nothing else because peeling the layers away at your own pace is such an important part of the experience.  I'm still recovering.  I can't wait for someone else to read this so I can talk about ALL the feelings!

Quote from the Book:
"If I were to offer an explanation of why I did what I did, half of the public wouldn't believe it, and the other half wouldn't think it changed a thing.  The only people who would be transformed by a revelation are related to Sarah, and this so-called revelation isn't going to bring her back.  So why does anyone really need to know?"

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