Showing results by author "Alice Hoffman" in All Categories

In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tales, all set in Blackbird House. This small farm on the outer reaches of Cape Cod is a place that is as bewitching and alive as the characters we meet. These interconnected narratives are as intelligent as they are haunting, as luminous as they are unusual. Inside Blackbird House more than a dozen men and women learn how love transforms us and how it is the one lasting element in our lives.

Isabel Gibson has all but perfected the art of forgetting. She’s a New Yorker now, with nothing left to tie her to Brinkley’s Island, Maine. Her parents are gone, the family bookstore is all but bankrupt, and her sister, Sophie, will probably never speak to her again. But when a mysterious letter arrives in her mailbox, Isabel feels herself drawn to the past. After years of fighting for her independence, she dreads the thought of going back to the island.

This fierce and beautiful story charts the histories of two women: Rae, young, unmarried, and far from home, awaits the birth of her first child. Lila, a fortune-teller with no interest in the future, lost her own daughter more than a quarter of a century earlier in New York. When these two women meet in Southern California, it's earthquake weather - the time when unexpected things happen.

"Udstødt" følger en kerneamerikansk familie, hvis verden bliver vendt fuldstændig på hovedet, da ægteparrets 11-årige datter får konstateret AIDS. Romanen følger de skæbnesvangre måneder, fra sygdommen bliver konstateret til pigens tragiske død. Den amerikanske forfatter Alice Hoffman (f. 1952) udgav sin første roman i en alder af bare 21 år og har siden udgivet både faglitteratur og romaner for børn og voksne, hvoraf flere har været på blandt andet New York Times bestsellerlister.

Efter at have boet næsten 20 år i Californien vender den nu modne March Murray og hendes 15-årige datter tilbage til den lille by i Massachusetts, hvor March voksede op. Her møder hun sin ungdoms store kærlighed, Hollis. De er stadig betagede af hinanden, og deres gamle lidenskab bliver til en vild besættelse for begge parter.

In this haunting short story of loyalty and betrayal, a young woman in early 1900s Massachusetts discovers that in navigating her treacherous coming-of-age, she must find her voice first. For fatefully observant Adeline, growing up carries an ominous warning from her adulterous mother: don’t say a word. Adeline vows to never speak again. But that’s not her only secret. After her mother takes a housekeeping job at a lighthouse off the tip of Cape Ann, a local woman vanishes. The key to the mystery lies with Adeline, the silent witness.

Illumination Night follows the lives of a young blond giant who is as beautiful as he is frightening; an old woman at the end of her life whose last mission is to save her granddaughter's soul; a family torn apart by a wife's fears and a husband's unrealized desires; and the high school girl who comes to Martha's Vineyard against her will, who steals husbands and cars, and who will bring everyone together in a web of yearning, sin, and ultimate redemption.

Fifteen years ago, Alice Hoffman received a diagnosis that changed everything about the life she'd been living. Most significant - aside from the grueling physical ordeal she underwent - was the way it changed how she felt inside and what she thought she ought to be doing with her days. Now she has written the book that she needed to read then. In this honest, wise, and upbeat guide, Alice Hoffman provides a road map for the making of one's life into the very best it can be.

With rich, pure prose Hoffman charts the progress of Gretel Samuelson from the time she is a young girl already acquainted with betrayal and grief, until she finally leaves home. Gretel's sly, funny, knowing perspective is at the heart of this collection, as she navigates through loyalty and loss with the help of an unforgettable trio of women: her best friend, Jill, her romance-addled cousin Margot, and her mother, Franny, whose spiritual journey affects them all.

The matriarch of a Long Island clan with a stubbornly suicidal son and a defiant, restless granddaughter, Esther has hired a Russian landscaper to watch over the family as well as the grounds of their secluded waterfront estate. But he has been watching Esther, too. And his love for her is growing wild enough to uproot them all.

When Ethan Ford fails to show up for work on a brilliant summer morning, none of his neighbors would guess that, for more than 13 years, he has been running from his past. His true nature has been locked away, as hidden as his real identity. But sometimes locks spring open, and the devastating truths of Ethan Ford's history shatter the small-town peace of Monroe, affecting family and friends alike.

“Hoffman’s characters are always moving back and forth, challenging our perceptions, daring us to judge them.”—New York Times Book Review The Red Garden introduces us to the luminous and haunting world of Blackwell, Massachusetts. Hoffman offers a transforming glimpse of small-town...

Nora Silk doesn't really fit in on Hemlock Street, where every house looks the same. She's divorced. She wears a charm bracelet and high heels and red toreador pants. And the way she raises her kids is a scandal. But as time passes, the neighbors start having second thoughts about Nora. The women's apprehension evolves into admiration. The men's lust evolves into awe. The children are drawn to her in ways they can't explain.

For more than a century, the small town of Haddan, Massachusetts, has been divided, as if by a line drawn down the center of Main Street, separating those born and bred in the village from those who attend the prestigious Haddan School. But one October night, an inexplicable death thrusts the two worlds together, and the town's divided history is revealed in all its complexity.

March Murray, along with her 15-year-old daughter, Gwen, returns to the small Massachusetts town where she grew up to attend the funeral of Judith Dale, the beloved housekeeper who raised her. After nearly 20 years of living in California, March is thrust into the world of her past.

Twig versucht so unsichtbar wie möglich zu sein. Denn wenn einen niemand beachtet, stellt auch keiner schwierige Fragen. Dann fragt auch niemand nach dem Fluch, der seit zweihundert Jahren auf Twigs Familie lastet, oder nach dem geflügelten Ungeheuer, das sich in mondhellen Nächten über ihrem Haus in die Lüfte schwingt. Dass dieses Wesen niemand anders als ihr Bruder James ist, der mit schwarzen Flügeln auf dem Rücken geboren wurde, darf keiner wissen.

Growing up, Violet was so busy helping others realize their dreams, she found little time to pursue her own. But five years ago, she took the chance of a lifetime, leaving the family bookshop on Brinkley’s Island, Maine, to attend culinary school in Paris. Now she’s working her dream job as a pâtissiere in an upscale Parisian restaurant—yet all she can think about is home.

When her family is lost in a terrible disaster, 15-year-old Green is haunted by loss and by the past. Struggling to survive physically and emotionally in a place where nothing seems to grow and ashes are everywhere, Green retreats into the ruined realm of her garden.

In this powerful, lovely sequel to GREEN ANGEL, Green must learn the stories of a number of "witches" and free her true soul mate from a prison as she grapples with life, love, and loss in a post-disaster world.

The Gibson sisters weren’t expecting to speak to each other ever again after Isabel ran off to New York and left Sophie alone. But here they are, years later, running the family bookstore together on Brinkley’s Island, Maine. Isabel also thought she’d left Johnny Lenox behind, but whether or not she knew it, Johnny was always going to be there for her. Five years into their happily ever after, Isabel and Johnny are making the most of their second chance at love.