“She Pulled Back Slightly, to look into his eyes. And then there was a shot”(Picoult, 3). The Pact, by Jodi Picoult is a fictional young-adult novel that entails a thrilling plot that takes you on an emotional rollercoaster, through the dramatic ups and downs of two childhoods colliding and developing into adolescence, leading up to the suspected murder trial of Chris Harte.
Jodi Picoult was awarded the New England Book Award for fiction in 2003, as well as the ALA’s Alex Award, and is a New York Times bestselling author for 13 of her books. Though her childhood was relatively uneventful, she makes up for it with her enticing stories that start with her characters developing through childhood, adolescence and towards the rest of their lives.…show more content… They were destined to be together, partners in crime for the rest of their lives, which turned out to be shorter than expected for Emily Gold.
The Golds had a small family of three, as Emily was the only child, as well as the perfect daughter to her parents Melanie and Michael. Chris Harte fit into his family of four, with his kid sister named Kate, and his parents Gus(Augusta), and James, who neighbored the Gold’s in a small town called Bainbridge, in New Hampshire.
When the Gold’s moved the Bainbridge, they had not expected to move next to their soon-to-be best friends, and have their own children have that same relationship with each other. It all started with a loaf of banana bread, and a welcome card from their new neighbors. Both Melanie and Gus were very pregnant at the time, and found themselves in a very close friendship, very quickly. They would tell each other everything they possibly could, and were there for each milestone in their own lives, and in the lives of their children. They were so close in fact, that the children would go back and forth between the two households, as if they were both their own. Chris and Emily were so close growing up, that they would play in the forest between their houses, at both houses, and at school,…show more content… They had a great friendship, but there became a point when they felt their relationship was capable of more than just that. At the age of 13, and 14 the relationship they held between them evolved into a serious, intimate over time. Everyone possesses a different perspective, but everyone that knew Emily and Chris could only imagine a future where they were together, as they always seemed to “fit” together, understand and support each other no matter what.
Although, on November 7, 1997 everything was changed in an instant, taking a turn for the worst in the lives of two families. The Gold and Harte families got a phone call, in the middle of the night. All they knew at the time was that they needed to get to the hospital immediately, as something had happened to their children. By the time they arrive, Emily is dead. A fatal gunshot wound to the head rendered her dead, and all anyone knows for sure, is that Chris Harte was at the scene that night, and is still alive. Based on those facts, Chris becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation, and is arrested to await his trial to decide if his “love” is dead from a botched double suicide attempt, or a