Some 300 attend talk by author Jodi Picoult

FANS of author Jodi Picoult had a rare chance to meet the author in Devon, at a meet the author session in Axminster.

Renowned for her work which addresses challenging subjects, she spoke to an audience of 300 at Axminster’s Guildhall, writes Andrew Coley.

One audience member tweeted she would be travelling 400 miles to see the author.

Jodi was promoting her latest title to reach the British shelves, Lone Wolf, and explained some of the research she had carried out for the book.

This included visiting Shaun Ellis, in Combe Martin, who spent a year living with a wolf pack in the Canadian Rockies, to learn about their behaviour.

Jodi read excerpts from the book, which tells the story of a family brought back together through a terrible accident. When wolf researcher Luke Warren is bringing his teenage daughter, Cara, home from a party, they crash, leaving Cara with a broken shoulder and Luke in a coma.

Lone Wolf looks at the intersection between medical science and moral choices.

Jodi first had the idea while talking to a neuro-surgeon. She asked for his contact details and a decade later, when she called him, he remembered her and the research work began.

She explained that while promoting one book, she is writing another and researching a third and is currently working on her 2014 novel.

During the evening she donated an advance copy of her next book, due out this summer and aimed at the young adult market, to a 14-year-old girl in the audience.

Jodi concluded the evening by spending an hour signing books.

Her visit was arranged by Chris Painton, who runs Archway Bookshop, Axminster, with his wife, Bea.

He said: “We sold around 170 books on the night and it was great to see the Guildhall full for the event.”

The visit had come about because Jodi’s publishers wanted to promote Lone Wolf in Devon, because of the link in the research to Combe Martin, with an independent book shop.