The Ordeal

In the novel Change Of Heart by Jodi Picoult, Shay Bourne is a 30 something year old man convicted of first degree murder of a police officer and child and molestation, and he is sentenced to a death penalty. Before he dies he wishes to donate his heart to the child of the woman who was a mother and wife to his crimes. The little girl who is the daughter of the woman needs a heart soon or she will die. The Ordeal of the story is after Shay's wish is granted by the supreme court and he is allowed to complete his death sentence by hanging instead of lethal injection so that the organs can be harvested. It is when he gets hanged that is the ordeal or the heart of the journey.