If Jodi Picoult’s characters were real, The Oprah Winfrey Show would have no shortage of guests. The acclaimed author of the bestseller My Sister’s Keeper specializes in family legal dramas on the outer fringes of believability. Also, her people tend to be chronically ill. Picoult’s latest novel, Change of Heart, details the struggles of a death-row inmate with miraculous powers who wants to give his heart, post-execution, to the dying daughter of the man he is convicted of murdering.

See what we mean? So Oprah-friendly.