Alice Hoffman

Full of Hoffman's bewitching and lucid prose and vivid characters, The Book of Magic is ultimately about the very human magic of family and love and actions that echo through generations... it casts a spell' -Matt HaigTHE STUNNING, UNFORGETTABLE CONCLUSION TO THE BELOVED PRACTICAL MAGIC SERIES For centuries, the Owens family has been cursed in matters of love. When beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the sound of the deathwatch beetle, she knows that it is a signal.She has finally discovered the secret to breaking the curse, but time is running out. She has only seven days to live. Unaware of the family's witchcraft lineage and all it entails, one of the young sisters of the new Owens generation has fallen in love.As the curse strikes once again, her love's fate hangs in the balance, spurring three generations of Owens to venture back to where it all began and use their gifts to break the spell that has marked all their lives. But doing so threatens to destroy everything the family has fought so hard to protect. How much will they give up for the greatest gift of all?PRAISE for ALICE HOFFMAN 'Beautiful, harrowing, a major contribution to twenty-first century literature'Toni Morrison 'I am still reeling from The Dovekeepers - from the history Alice Hoffman illuminates, from the language she uses to bring these women to life.This novel is a testament to the human spirit and to love rising from the ashes of war. But most of all, this novel is one that will never be forgotten by a reader.'Jodi Picoult 'In her remarkable new novel, Alice Hoffman holds a mirror to our ancient past as she explores the contemporary themes of sexual desire, women's solidarity in the face of strife, and the magic that's quietly present in our day-to-day living. Put The Dovekeepers at the pinnacle of Hoffman's extraordinary body of work.I was blown away.'Wally Lamb 'Alice Hoffman takes seemingly ordinary lives and lets us see and feel extraordinary things.'Amy Tan 'Miss Hoffman heals wounds with the gentle touch of an angel'Joseph Heller 'Oh, what a book this is! Hoffman's exploration of the world of good and evil, and the constant contest between them, is unflinching; and the humanity she brings to us - it is a glorious experience.'Elizabeth Strout

She was disappearing inch by inch, vanishing into thin air, and then one day a postcard arrived ...There was no return address, no signature, only a scrawled message: Say something. Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl growing up on Long Island until one night a terrible road accident brings her life to a halt. While her best friend Helene suffers life-changing injuries, Shelby becomes overwhelmed with guilt and is suddenly unable to see the possibility of a future she'd once taken for granted. But as time passes, and Helene becomes an almost otherworldly figure within the town, seen by its inhabitants as a source of healing, Shelby finds herself attended to by her own guardian angel. A mysterious figure she half-glimpsed the night of the car crash, he now sends Shelby brief but beautiful messages imploring her to take charge of her life once more ...What happens when a life is turned inside out? When you lose all hope and sense of worth? Shelby, a fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookshops, and men she should stay away from, captures both the ache of loneliness and the joy of finding oneself at last. From the bestselling author of The Dovekeepers comes this spellbinding, poignant and life-affirming story of one woman's journey towards happiness - and the power of love, family and fate. 'A great atmospheric storyteller ...Her books are a real pleasure' Kate Atkinson 'Alice Hoffman reminds us with every sentence that words have the power to transport us to alternate worlds' Jodi Picoult

Practical Magic, to date Alice Hoffman's biggest ever selling novel, became a major Hollywood film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman who played sisters Sally and Gillian Owens. In this sparkling prequel we meet sisters Frances and Jet and Vincent, their brother. From the beginning their mother Susanna knew they were unique: Franny with her skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, who could commune with birds; Jet as shy as she is beautiful, who knows what others are thinking, and Vincent so charismatic that he was built for trouble. Susanna needed to set some rules of magic: no walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles and certainly, absolutely, no books about magic... But the Owens siblings are desperate to uncover who they really are. Each heads down a life-altering course, filled with secrets and truths, devastation and joy, and magic and love. Despite the warning handed down through the family for centuries - Know that for our family, love is a curse - they will all strive to break the rules and find true love. 'Hoffman delights in this prequel to Practical Magic... a coming-of-age tale replete with magic and historical references to the early witch trials. The spellbinding story, focusing on the strength of family bonds through joy and sorrow, will appeal to a broad range of readers. Fans... will be bewitched' Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Rules of Magic

She was disappearing inch by inch, vanishing into thin air, and then one day a postcard arrived . . . There was no return address, no signature, only a scrawled message: Say something. Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl growing up on Long Island until one night a terrible road accident brings her life to a halt. While her best friend Helene suffers life-changing injuries, Shelby becomes overwhelmed with guilt and is suddenly unable to see the possibility of a future she'd once taken for granted. But as time passes, and Helene becomes an almost otherworldly figure within the town, seen by its inhabitants as a source of healing, Shelby finds herself attended to by her own guardian angel

From the beloved, bestselling author of THE DOVEKEEPERS, a mesmerizing new novel about the electric and impassioned love between two vastly different souls in New York during the volatile first decad

Coney Island, 1911: Coralie Sardie is the daughter of a self-proclaimed scientist and professor who acts as the impresario of The Museum of Extraordinary Things, a boardwalk freak show offering amazement and entertainment to the masses. An extraordinary swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid alongside performers like the Wolfman, the Butterfly Girl,and a 100 year old turtle, in her father's "museum". She swims regularly in New York's Hudson River, and one night stumbles upon a striking young man alone in the woods photographing moon-lit trees. From that moment, Coralie knows her life will never be the same.The dashing photographer Coralie spies is Eddie Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father's Lower East Side Orthodox community. As Eddie photographs the devastation on the streets of New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes embroiled in the mystery behind a young woman's disappearance and the dispute between factory owners and labourers. In the tumultuous times that characterized life in New York between the world wars, Coralie and Eddie's lives come crashing together in Alice Hoffman's mesmerizing, imaginative, and romantic new novel.

Gorod Blekuell v shtate Massachusets. Kogda-to davno neskolko liudei prishli siuda, na pustuiu zemliu, chtoby vozdelyvat ee, stroit doma i rozhat detei. Sredi nikh byla i Khelli Bredi - otvazhnaia molodaia zhenshchina, kotoraia ne boialas ni metelei, ni medvedei. Tolko blagodaria ei pervye poselentcy ne zamerzli nasmert i ne umerli s goloda. Khelli davno umerla, a Blekuell po-prezhnemu sushchestvoval. V gorod prishli novye liudi: zhenshchina, kotoroi prishlos sovershit prestuplenie, chtoby spasti svoego rebenka i sokhranit sobstvennyi rassudok, tainstvennyi neznakometc, kotoryi poselilsia v lesu i skryvalsia ot vsekh, i mnozhestvo drugikh, ne menee interesnykh i tainstvennykh personazhei. V zhizni kazhdogo iz nikh ochen vazhen magicheskii Krasnyi sad, takoi krasnyi, slovno v ego pochve betsia zhivoe, napolnennoe kroviu serdtce. Takoi sad, gde rastut tolko krasnye plody, est tolko zdes, v Blekuelle, i tolko zdes s liudmi mogut proiskhodit stol neobychnye sobytiia.

Description On the night that Arlyn Singer"s father dies, she is certain her destiny will find her. Some hours later a young man shows up at her door. Lost in a strange town, John Moody is an architectural student, serious, reserved, and deliberate. And he has no inkling that the tall, red-haired girl whom he has asked for directions will haunt him for the rest of his life. John Moody takes Arlyn to live in a house made of glass, the Glass Slipper. Her life there is not the romantic destiny she envisaged. She dreams of escape for herself and her children, Sam and Blanca, but her eventual escape, too, is not the one she dreamed of. Years later, Arlyn is gone, and Meredith Weiss arrives at the Moody house. Sam, now a teenager, is careening down a path of drug-fuelled self-destruction, while John Moody is tormented by visions of a red-haired woman in white. Meredith sets out to try to save this troubled family. But will her devotion be enough to pull them back from the fate they seem to have cho sen for themselves? Glass breaks, love hurts, and families make their own rules and have their own secrets. Told with Alice Hoffman"s signature grace and originality, "Skylight Confessions" is a shimmering, powerful story of passion, heartbreak and families. Alice Hoffman, geboren 1952 in New York, aufgewachsen auf Long Island. Studium in Stanford. Sie wurde von "Entertainment Weekly" in die Liste der "100 kreativsten Persönlichkeiten der Unterhaltungsbranche" aufgenommen; ihre Romane standen auf den amerikanischen Bestsellerlisten. Heute lebt die Autorin der Nähe von Boston.

Writing at the height of her powers, Alice Hoffman conjures three generations of a family haunted by love. John is cool, practical and deliberate - the polar opposite of dreamy Arlyn - yet the two are drawn powerfully together even when it is clear they are bound to bring each other grief. Their marriage traces a map no one should follow, leading them and their children to a house made of glass in the Connecticut countryside, to the avenues of Manhattan, and to the blue waters of Long Island Sound. Glass breaks, love hurts, and, like all families, John and Arlyn's makes its own rules. Ultimately, it falls to their grandson, Will, to walk a path of ruin and redemption in order to solve the emotional puzzle of his family.

Convencida de que el destino y el amor existen, la noche en que muere su padre la joven Arlyn decide enamorarse del primer hombre que se cruce en su camino. El elegido será John Moody, alguien radicalmente opuesto a ella. La historia de estos personajes, y la de todos a los que amaron, sus anhelos y sus decepciones nos introducen en un universo terrible y mágico. Confesiones bajo el cielo es una obra elegante y luminosa llena de auténtica originalidad.

This haunting, poignant and addictive story travels effortlessly across three generations and through time. Unravelling the years from the present to the 1950s, The Third Angel is a compelling novel, set mainly in London, about girls and women who make the wrong choices and have to live with the sometimes unbearable consequences. The Third Angel opens in London in the present day, when an envious sibling comes to her sister's wedding. Their mother's illness cast a shadow over their childhood, and both Madeline and Allie are still searching for something missing in their lives. Back in the Swinging Sixties, the bridegroom's conventional English mother, Frieda, behaves in a wholly unconventional way, and the ghosts of that era still haunt all their lives and a Knightsbridge hotel. Even before that, the seeds of tragedy are sown in the Fifties, when twelve-year-old Lucy first visits London and the same hotel. Precocious, impatient, wise beyond her years, Lucy becomes a go-between for two star-crossed lovers and then holds herself agonisingly responsible for what happens...

Alice Hoffman teje una historia mágica e imponentemente original que traza la vida de tres mujeres enamoradas del hombre equivocado: Headstrong Madeleine Séller se encuentra irresistiblemente atraída por el novio de su hermana; Frieda Lewis, hija de un doctor y fugitivo, se convierte en la musa de una malograda estrella del rock; y la hermosa Bryn Evans quiere casarse con un inglés mientras está secretamente obsesionada por su exmarido. El corazón de la novela es Lucy Green, que se culpa de un accidente de la que fue testigo a la edad de doce años.

A haunting and emotionally satisfying novel from a much-loved and critically acclaimed author, which weaves fairy tale and gritty realism together to dazzlingly effect. 'The Story Sisters' charts the lives of three sisters -- Elv, Claire and Meg. Each has a fate she must meet alone: one on a country road, one in the streets of Paris, and one in the corridors of her own imagination. Inhabiting their world are a charismatic man who cannot tell the truth, a neighbor who is not who he appears to be, a clumsy boy in Paris who falls in love and stays there, a detective who finds his heart's desire, and a demon who will not let go. What does a mother do when one of her children goes astray? How does she save one daughter without sacrificing the others? How deep can love go, and how far can it take you? At once a coming-of-age tale, a family saga, and a love story of erotic longing, 'The Story Sisters' sifts through the miraculous and the mundane as the girls become women and their choices haunt them, change them and, finally, redeem them.

The women of the Sparrow family have lived in New England for generations. Each is born in the month of March, and at the age of thirteen, each develops an unusual gift. Elinor can literally smell a lie. Her daughter, Jenny, can see people’s dreams as they’re dreaming them. Granddaughter Stella, newly a teen, has just developed the ability to see how other people will die. Ironically, it is their gifts that have kept Elinor and Jenny apart for the last twenty-five years. But as Stella struggles to cope with her disturbing clairvoyance, the unthinkable happens: One of her premonitions lands her father in jail, wrongly accused of homicide. The ordeal leads Stella to the grandmother she’s never met and to Cake House, the Sparrow ancestral home full of talismans and fraught with history. Now three generations of estranged Sparrow women must come together to turn Stella’s potential to ruin into a potential to redeem.

Told from Gretel Samuelson's sly and knowing perspective, Local Girls charts her progress as she navigates from childhood to the brink of womanhood, picking her way though the tragedies and absurdities of everyday life in a family which is rocked by divorce and disaster, bad judgement and fierce attachments. Her father has left them, her chain-smoking mother, Franny, is falling apart and refuses to learn the simple lessons of life, her perfect brother has fatal flaws, and even her best friend Jill - blonde, enviable and beautiful - is moving too fast into the unfathomable world of women.

For more than two hundred years, the Owens women had been blamed for everything that went wrong in their Massachusetts town. And Gillian and Sally endured that fate as well; as children, the sisters were outsiders. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, but all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. One would do so by marrying, the other by running away. But the bonds they shared brought them back-almost as if by magic... "A beautiful, moving book about the power of love and the desires of the heart."-Denver Post "Charmingly told, and a good deal of fun." -New York Times Book Review

A fairy tale for grown ups, which brings together, as only Hoffman can, the fabulous and the real, chaos theory and the irrational everyday moment, in a compelling, haunting and sexy novel, with a sharp edge. The story begins with a little girl who makes a wish one snowy night and ruins her life. She grows up with a splinter of ice in her heart until one day, standing by her kitchen window, she is struck by lightning. Instead of killing her, this cataclysmic event sparks off a new beginning. She seeks out Lazarus Jones, a fellow lightning survivor. He is her opposite, a burning man whose breath can boil water and whose touch scorches. As an obsessive love affair begins between them, both are forced to hide their most dangerous secrets - what turned one to ice and the other to fire. The Ice Queen is a haunting story of passion, loss, second chances and the secrets that come to define us, if we're not careful.