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Handle with Care (novel)Handle with Care (2009) is the seventeenth novel by the American author, Jodi Picoult. Handle with Care debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Plot
The story follows the life of a young girl, Willow O'Keefe, and her family. Willow has Type III osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a disease also known as brittle bone syndrome. To her parents, Sean and Charlotte O'Keefe, the disease has meant many sleepless nights, mounting hospital and insurance bills, and the pitying stares of "luckier" parents.

After a disastrous vacation to Disney World that results in Willow severely breaking both of her femora, Sean and Charlotte visit a lawyer to inquire about a lawsuit against the park and hospital after park and hospital staff thought that Willow's broken bones indicated child abuse. The lawyer, Marin Gates, mentions a different possibility: a wrongful birth lawsuit against the OB/GYN that treated Charlotte during her pregnancy. Essentially, if the O'Keefe's had known earlier that their fetus had OI, they would have been equipped with all the information, and able to make the choice as to whether or not to have the pregnancy aborted. However, the OB/GYN the O'Keefe's are suing is Piper Reece, Charlotte's best friend.

Amelia, the eldest daughter of Charlotte, from a previous relationship with a drug addict, develops bulimia and begins to self-harm, partially due to the stress of her home life. Sean considers getting a divorce after countless disagreements with Charlotte about the lawsuit. However, they eventually get back together.

During the trial, it is revealed that at an 18-week ultrasound, there was evidence of OI, which Piper should have informed Charlotte about. The jury awards the O'Keefe's million. This forces Piper to leave her practice and take up a part-time job at a free health clinic. Marin, the O'Keefe's lawyer, has her own issues during the lawsuit as well. She was adopted and is trying to track down her birth parents. She discovers that her birth-mother is on the jury and it's later revealed to Marin that she was a product of rape.

The final chapter is narrated by Willow. She begins first grade, and is going to a camp for kids with OI. Amelia received treatment for her eating disorder and returned home healthy and with a passion for painting. Charlotte, who used to be a pastry chef, wrote a recipe book and is donating all of the profits to the OI Foundation. Sean and Charlotte are able to reconcile and put the check aside for when they might really need it. Willow has always been jealous of her sister as she is a brilliant ice skater.

One day, Willow wanders, alone, to the frozen pond in the backyard and tries to crawl over it carefully. However, the thin ice breaks under her weight, and she drowns in the pond. Willow mentions how, this time, it wasn't her that broke. The story concludes with Charlotte burying the million check with Willow.

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