We are all familiar with the hashtag on social media #BlackLivesMatter. Yet I didn’t come face to face with it until I read Jodi Picoult’s newest masterpiece, Small Great Things.

Following the main characters through vignette like first-person accounts of the story we meet Ruth Jefferson, the woman this story is centered around. Ruth Jefferson is a 20 year nurse at West Haven Mercy Hospital and is working when the Bauer’s come in because Brit Bauer is in labor is ready to deliver her baby. Ruth Jefferson is a neonatal nurse and a mother herself. Her husband died while serving in Afghanistan.

Instantly, you relate to Ruth and connect with her.

So it equally pisses you off when a wonderful woman like Ruth who was just doing her job is suddenly under investigation for murder, and not just any murder.

The murder of Davis Bauer, newborn son of Brit and Turk Bauer, known white supremacists.

#amreading Small Great Things by @jodipicoult pic.twitter.com/qAvyzVXdwj

— The Smart Cookie (@TSCPhiles) October 3, 2016

Picoult weaves a story that shows literary merit but relevance in today’s racism-driven society, one that shares the struggle each person goes through when living based on skin color, or judged solely by it.

It’s brilliant. And I recommend you read it NOW. Get to your local bookstore and buy a copy for you and a friend or family member. It may be Picoult’s 24th book and 9th best-seller but it showcases Picoult’s true talent of writing literature that isn’t limited by time but instead exceeds beyond her years in wisdom, words, and grace.

I’m holding a fundraiser to benefit The Smart Cookie Philes and Metropolitan Ministries! Want to help out? Check out the link below. Can’t donate? No worries. Just share the campaign by retweeting the tweet below or by sharing the campaign via the webpage.

Too many books not enough bag? #EspressoYourself this holiday season by supporting @TSCPhiles and @Metroministries https://t.co/lwjR3SOUWg pic.twitter.com/1DUQrqbc4m

— The Smart Cookie (@TSCPhiles) October 16, 2016