My Readers Guide to Hollow Bones will have Jen’s Quick Take, a summary of My Sister’s Keeper, a summary of Hollow Bones with spoilers, AND Book Club Questions

Readers Guide to Hollow Bones

Jen’s Quick Take on Hollow Bones

• Hollow Bones follows some characters from Picoult’s 2005 book Her Sister’s Keeper
• The book is a dual timeline story. One timeline takes place during 2026, the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The other timeline begins in 2001. Gradually, the two converge
• Picoult uses the multi-POV narrative she’s known for
• Like Mad Honey, I thought this book sometimes suffered from an overload of research that dragged the pace down at times.
• Hollow Bones is a bittersweet look back at a 25 year old tragedy that also looks at an issue that has been very much in the news this summer of 2026. Read more if you are okay with spoilers!
• Release date: September 15, 2026. Thanks to Ballantine books for the advance copy

How is Hollow Bones Connected to My Sister’s Keeper?

The fact that Hollow Bones is a sequel of sorts to My Sister’s Keeper came as a complete surprise to me.

Hollow Bones follows Jesse Fitzgerald, the older brother of Kate and Anna. Now forty years old, Jesse is a police officer and married to Molly, a woman whose mother died on 9/11.

Do you need to have read My Sister’s Keeper to read Hollow Bones?

I don’t think so. Jesse has grown up a lot since the events of My Sister’s Keeper, which I’ll recap briefly. (The book was also made into a 2009 movie starring Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, and Alec Baldwin.)

My Sister’s Keeper Recap (with Spoilers)

At age two, Jesse’s younger sister Kate is diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. When Jesse is not a match for a bone marrow transplant, his parents Sara and Brian conceive another child, Anna, who is a perfect match for her sister.

Anna undergoes multiple invasive procedures to help Kate’s treatment. But when Anna turns thirteen and her parents tell her they need her to donate a kidney to Kate, she hires a lawyer to file for emancipation from her parents, setting off an emotional legal battle in her family.

In the book, Jesse is a bit of a juvenile delinquent who abuses alcohol and sets fires. The book ends with Anna’s legal challenge succeeding. Shortly after, Anna dies in a car accident and, ironically, ends up donating a kidney to Kate.

In Hollow Bones, Kate has recovered and is the mother of an eight-year old daughter named Anna. Jesse is a police officer who administers polygraph tests and is married to Molly.

Summary of Hollow Bones

Sept 2026

Molly Fitzgerald, Head of Rhode Island’s Center for Emergency Preparedness, is holding a airplane crash drill. Molly, who lost her mom in the September 11 attack, finds out she’s pregnant.

Oct-Nov 2026

Molly starts telling people about her pregnancy. Curious about her biological mother, Eloise, Molly learned that Eloise was a preacher’s daughter from Alabama.

Nov-Dec 2026

During a blizzard, Molly slips on ice and falls. The baby is okay but they want to monitor both of them.

Through a completely shocking chance encounter, Molly learns that Georgia, the new receptionist at her obstetrician’s office is actually her mother, Eloise.

June-September 2001

A pregnant Eloise watches a woman named Andrea Yates arrested for drowning her children. Eloise is an artist making a mosaic that she calls “Hollow Bones.”  

Eloise has her baby, but feels anxious all the time. Memories of her sister Adie’s sexual abuse by her father and her sister’s death from an overdose haunt her.

As Eloise‘s mental health continues to deteriorate, she goes to see a therapist who gives her Zoloft. She ends up in a hospital and is given Ativan, which helps her sleep but also gives her nightmares. She hears voices and thinks that Satan is speaking to her. When Eloise’s friend Edie sees her trying to drown Molly in the bathtub, Edie sets up an appointment for Eloise with a psychiatrist and offers to babysit Molly.

September 11, 2001

Eloise is on her way to see the doctor when the planes hit the World Trade Center.

In the chaos of that day, Eloise steals a woman’s ID and bus ticket and heads to Atlanta.

Evie, who was in love with Adam before Eloise met him, steps in to help with Molly.

Eloise tries to kill herself, but the a hotel maid finds her and she ends up at the hospital. She tells them her name is Georgia and ends up in a psychiatric hospital.

In a college flashback, Evie finds out that Eloise and Adam are secretly seeing each other and throws all of Eloise‘s clothes out the window. As Adam and Eloise get married, Edie finds out that she’s pregnant by her married boss.

At the psychiatric hospital, Eloise is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She sleeps with a sketchy guy so he’ll give her fake ID under the name Georgia.

The housekeeper from the motel who saved her after her suicide attempt takes her in.

Georgia decides to fly back to New York and see her family. They are having a memorial service for her, and she sees Evie with Molly. She decides not to reveal she is alive and returns to Atlanta.

2008

Georgia relapses but gets back on track. She sees an article about Andrea Yates at her dentist office and tries to research postpartum psychosis. she starts dating the librarian who helps her research. But eventually he figures out she has been lying to him and breaks up with her.

2020-2024

Georgia manages to find another guy: Kai, a Native American police officer.

In a bout of paranoia, Eloise decides that Kai is hiding something from her. She manages to sneak into the police station to spy on him and gets arrested. Georgia confides in Kai about her sister, and he encourages her to visit her mother in a memory care facility.

She and Kai go to visit his family. He proposes to her, and when she said she can’t marry him, they break up

2026

Georgia runs into Kai with his new wife and baby. Then she sees on Instagram that Molly is pregnant. She becomes concerned that Molly might have postpartum psychosis, as it can have a genetic element. She finds out the name of Molly‘s obstetrician.

Dec 2026-April 2027

Molly, who has just learned that her mother is alive, nearly faints. Her father is in total shock.

Georgia drops off a note saying she wants to talk to Molly.

Evie tells Molly and Jesse about Eloise’s postpartum depression and how she arranged for Eloise to go to the Financial District for a psychiatrist appointment.

Molly is shocked and angry at her father for going on a business trip when her mother was in crisis.

Molly and Jesse invite Georgia over. She tells them her entire story from her childhood to the thoughts she had about harming Molly.

After Molly’s baby is born. Georgia watches her like a hawk. Molly doesn’t love being a mother, but she doesn’t have postpartum psychosis. 

Hollow Bones: The Ending Explained

Molly and Georgia visit Brown and RISD, where Georgia studied art. They run into a man who recognizes Georgia as Eloise.

He goes to the press and the story blows up. Adam gives a statement to the press, and Molly gives an interview.

Georgia gets fired. Evie is not happy about all the public scrutiny. Adam seems to be still in love with Eloise, which makes Evie angry and jealous. 

May-June 2027

Jesse and Molly take their daughter Adie to visit Jesse‘s parents and sister Kate.

Jesse realizes that Evie has been lying: she never saw Eloise trying to kill Molly.

Molly and Jesse ask Eloise to be their daughter’s paid nanny. She’s honored that they trust her.

June 2027

Evie moves out of the home she shares with Adam. Eloise makes a mosaic for the babies room.

Molly and Eloise go to the 911 Memorial Museum.

June 2027

Molly calls Jesse and says that Eloise was struck by a car. As Eloise undergoes surgery, Molly is distraught at the thought of losing her mother again.

June 2031

Eloise recovered from her accident. Molly is expecting another baby.

Book Club Questions for Hollow Bones

My Book Club Questions for Hollow Bones can be downloaded from Gumroad! I have 16 questions, plus quotes!