Salem Falls
Encyclopedia
Salem Falls is a 2001 novel by Jodi Picoult
about what happens to a person when he is given a label and not allowed to escape it.
After serving out his sentence, he needs a fresh start, which he finds when he wanders into a diner
in Salem Falls, New Hampshire
. Without revealing the details of his past, he is hired on as a dishwasher, assisting the owner in the kitchen. He begins a romantic relationship with Addie Peabody, the woman who co-owns and operates the diner with her father and is mourning the death of her young daughter, Chloe, from bacterial meningitis at ten years old.
Under New Hampshire law, Jack is required to register with the local police department as a convicted sex offender. Because this is a matter of public record, soon the entire town becomes aware of his past.
Some local teenage girls experimenting with Wicca
- manipulative, disturbed Gillian, daughter of Amos Duncan the most prominent businessman in Salem Falls; Chelsea (in whom Jordan McAfee's son, Thomas, takes an active interest); Whitney and Meg - take an interest in Jack. Although he does his best to stay away from them, one night he accidentally stumbles upon them in the woods while they are celebrating the Wiccan holiday of Beltane
.
Because of his past and the prevailing attitude in Salem Falls that Jack should not be there, he is quickly accused of sexually assaulting Gillian. Due to his intoxicated state at the time, Jack is unable to recall where he was that night.
Jack is defended by Jordan McAfee and assisted by Selena Damascus.
Throughout the trial, Jordan manages to cast reasonable doubt on Gillian's testimony. However, Meg confides in Addie that she remembers Jack touching her in a sexual manner. Addie believes her because she thinks that "no woman would lie about something like that", and takes Meg to report the incident to policeman Charlie, who is Meg's father.
Clues begin to unravel that Gillian has been lying about the assault. Sources tell that she and her clique were taking drugs on the night of Beltane that cause hallucinations. The initial blood screening when Gillian was given a rape exam showed no evidence of drugs in her system. Jordan does not believe this and hires a private toxicologist to run tests on the blood samples, which reveal extreme amounts of a hallucinogen. It is also discovered through her previous psychiatric records that Gilllian was known for being a chronic liar as a child after the death of her mother.
Chelsea gets an attack of conscience, though, and mails "The Book of Shadows" (a witch's handbook, and proof that they are part of a witch's coven) to Thomas, who takes it to Jordan. Jordan then uses it against Gillian, who claims she "didn't want to be labeled a slut"
Jack is pronounced not guilty. After the trial, Meg reveals to Charlie that Gillian convinced them to make it all up, as a game, to see if they could ruin his life because Gillian was attracted to Jack and he turned her down. Charlie reluctantly agrees to protect her.
It is revealed that Addie, too, was gang-raped at sixteen by Charlie and Amos, so therefore Addie never knew the true identity of Chloe's father. Charlie apologises and Addie appears to accept this. Jack offers to move with Addie to New York, to reconcile with his mother. She agrees.
Jordan and Selena - who have been battling their mutual attraction - get together. It is revealed that Chelsea and Thomas conspired - via witchcraft - to do so.
The final twist is saved for the final paragraph, when it is revealed that Amos has been raping and otherwise sexually abusing his daughter, Gillian, since she was young, and as the novel ends, seems to continue doing so. It then seems likely that the semen found on her thigh is his, not Jack's.
Some scenes from the film were shot in and around the town of Fergus in Centre Wellington, Ontario.
As of August 18th , the set of Salem Falls is located in the downtown area at the old Ontario Provincial Police office and at Black & White Restaurant on the main strip downtown Fergus.
Jodi Picoult
Jodi Lynn Picoult is an American author. She was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for fiction in 2003. Picoult currently has some 14 million copies of her books in print worldwide.-Early life and education:...
about what happens to a person when he is given a label and not allowed to escape it.
Plot summary
Jack is a highly educated high school teacher at a private school for girls in New England. When Jack is accused, falsely, of having an inappropriate relationship with one of his students, he pleads guilty to a lesser charge and is sentenced to eight months in prison. His mother - a crusader for women's rights, running an improvised "halfway house" for prostitutes - refuses to believe his claims of innocence and abandons him.After serving out his sentence, he needs a fresh start, which he finds when he wanders into a diner
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...
in Salem Falls, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. Without revealing the details of his past, he is hired on as a dishwasher, assisting the owner in the kitchen. He begins a romantic relationship with Addie Peabody, the woman who co-owns and operates the diner with her father and is mourning the death of her young daughter, Chloe, from bacterial meningitis at ten years old.
Under New Hampshire law, Jack is required to register with the local police department as a convicted sex offender. Because this is a matter of public record, soon the entire town becomes aware of his past.
Some local teenage girls experimenting with Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
- manipulative, disturbed Gillian, daughter of Amos Duncan the most prominent businessman in Salem Falls; Chelsea (in whom Jordan McAfee's son, Thomas, takes an active interest); Whitney and Meg - take an interest in Jack. Although he does his best to stay away from them, one night he accidentally stumbles upon them in the woods while they are celebrating the Wiccan holiday of Beltane
Beltane
Beltane or Beltaine is the anglicised spelling of Old Irish Beltaine or Beltine , the Gaelic name for either the month of May or the festival that takes place on the first day of May.Bealtaine was historically a Gaelic festival celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.Bealtaine...
.
Because of his past and the prevailing attitude in Salem Falls that Jack should not be there, he is quickly accused of sexually assaulting Gillian. Due to his intoxicated state at the time, Jack is unable to recall where he was that night.
Jack is defended by Jordan McAfee and assisted by Selena Damascus.
Throughout the trial, Jordan manages to cast reasonable doubt on Gillian's testimony. However, Meg confides in Addie that she remembers Jack touching her in a sexual manner. Addie believes her because she thinks that "no woman would lie about something like that", and takes Meg to report the incident to policeman Charlie, who is Meg's father.
Clues begin to unravel that Gillian has been lying about the assault. Sources tell that she and her clique were taking drugs on the night of Beltane that cause hallucinations. The initial blood screening when Gillian was given a rape exam showed no evidence of drugs in her system. Jordan does not believe this and hires a private toxicologist to run tests on the blood samples, which reveal extreme amounts of a hallucinogen. It is also discovered through her previous psychiatric records that Gilllian was known for being a chronic liar as a child after the death of her mother.
Chelsea gets an attack of conscience, though, and mails "The Book of Shadows" (a witch's handbook, and proof that they are part of a witch's coven) to Thomas, who takes it to Jordan. Jordan then uses it against Gillian, who claims she "didn't want to be labeled a slut"
Jack is pronounced not guilty. After the trial, Meg reveals to Charlie that Gillian convinced them to make it all up, as a game, to see if they could ruin his life because Gillian was attracted to Jack and he turned her down. Charlie reluctantly agrees to protect her.
It is revealed that Addie, too, was gang-raped at sixteen by Charlie and Amos, so therefore Addie never knew the true identity of Chloe's father. Charlie apologises and Addie appears to accept this. Jack offers to move with Addie to New York, to reconcile with his mother. She agrees.
Jordan and Selena - who have been battling their mutual attraction - get together. It is revealed that Chelsea and Thomas conspired - via witchcraft - to do so.
The final twist is saved for the final paragraph, when it is revealed that Amos has been raping and otherwise sexually abusing his daughter, Gillian, since she was young, and as the novel ends, seems to continue doing so. It then seems likely that the semen found on her thigh is his, not Jack's.
Characters
- Jack St. Bride is a former star athlete and high school history teacher who is accused and convicted of statutory rape. He is an avid watcher of Jeopardy!Jeopardy!Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
. - Addie Peabody owns and operates the diner in town, along with her father. She is revealed to be the victim of a rape in her teenage years, which resulted in a pregnancy, the child of which died early in childhood.
- Roy Peabody is Addie's father who co-owns and operates the diner.
- Gillian Duncan is a teenage girl living in Salem Falls who is attracted to Jack.
- Amos Duncan is Gillian's father and owner of the largest pharmaceutical company in Salem Falls. He and Addie went to school together.
- Jordan McAfee is Jack's defense attorney. He, his son Thomas and his assistant Selena also appear in other Jodi Picoult novels, The PactThe PactThe Pact is a novel by bestselling author Jodi Picoult about a possible suicide pact between two teenage lovers.-Plot summary:"Chris and Emily, teenagers from the same neighborhood and very close families, have been as close as siblings since birth, but as teenagers their relationship develops...
and Nineteen MinutesNineteen MinutesNineteen Minutes, published on March 9, 2007, is a novel by Jodi Picoult. It was her first book to debut at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.This book is about a school shooting, and focuses on the events leading up to and following the incident....
.
Film adaption
The film aired on Lifetime TV in Nov. 2011. Filming started August 10, 2011 according to the source. The film features- James Van Der Beek, [Dawson's Creek], Sarah Carter [Falling Skies], and Amanda Michalka [The Lovely Bones, Secretariat, Super 8] as Gillian.Some scenes from the film were shot in and around the town of Fergus in Centre Wellington, Ontario.
As of August 18th , the set of Salem Falls is located in the downtown area at the old Ontario Provincial Police office and at Black & White Restaurant on the main strip downtown Fergus.