Alice Hoffman

Many of us read more than one of her books, either this time, or over the years. Alice Hoffman has written 22 adult books and 6 “teen” books. Her website is here. Among us, these were the books we read for our meeting: Turtle Moon, Practical Magic, Blue Diary, The Red Garden, The Story Sisters, At Risk, Ice Queen, Here On Earth.

We compared Hoffman to other authors who we’ve read and who have written many, many books. One comparison that stands out is to Jodi Picoult who has written 18 novels (I have read 15 of Jodi and 5 of Alice). Both write about New England, especially Massachusetts, and small towns. Picoult has a “formula” in her stories that includes a trial, Hoffman doesn’t. Each of Hoffman’s stories is unique and interesting, though there are similarities among her books which I describe below. Picoult does a lot of research and picks controversial topics which she sets up right away, and then proceeds to present both sides of the issue in a sensitive and compassionate way. Hoffman has controversial issues, which sneak up on you as the story progresses. There is a “magical” quality in laying out the setting and unearthing the story.

We talked about themes and commonalities among the books written by Alice Hoffman:

Siblings: Relationships play a key role whether the story is about sisters, siblings, daughters, brothers, fathers or foster children.

Writing: Letters and notes which are found, lost, or written play a part in the plot, magic, and resolution.

Men: The antagonist is often an evil man, though minor men appear in the background and help define the female characters. There are usually one or two minor male characters who are nice.

Occupations: Did anyone notice that being a jewelry maker came up in more than one novel?

Supernatural feeling or Fairytale quality: This is hard to explain. It is partly the writing and partly how she sets the scene. In the writing, things happen that can’t always be explained and in the scenery there are images that she frequently uses:
• Color (light and dark)
• Water
• Trees
• Roses