During that time, Ellie begins a relationship with her former lover Coop, a legal psychologist whom she trusts with Katie's interviews, and whom she had previously left years before. As part of the bail conditions of the pre-trial hearing, Ellie has to remain on the farm with Katie prior to the trial-a period that lasts several months.Ī doctor is able to determine that the infant was born prematurely, and could have died from natural causes due to listeriosis, a bacterial infection that Katie contracted from drinking unpasteurized milk from their Amish dairy farm. Ellie Hathaway, an experienced defense attorney and a distant relative of Katie, reluctantly accepts the case after a confrontation with her aunt (the relative who connects Ellie with Katie by marriage). However, Katie denies ever being pregnant. An 18-year-old, unmarried Amish girl, Katie Fisher, is charged with the murder of her newborn son. Police were able to find cloth fibers in the infant's mouth and throat, including bruises on the mouth, which leads them to conclude that he was suffocated. As the police investigate the death, they discover that the baby was not stillborn, but instead had died shortly after birth. The novel recounts the story of how a dead infant found on an Amish farm rocks the entire community.

The story follows a murder on an Amish farm. Plain Truth (2001) is the seventh novel written by the American author Jodi Picoult.

Mercy jodi picoult summary