Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman ~ Short Story Book Review

Book Description:

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. New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic Alice Hoffman crafts a beautiful, heart-wrenching short story.

Alice Hoffman’s Everything My Mother Taught Me is part of Inheritance, a collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, and dangerous revelations between loved ones. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single setting. By yourself, behind closed doors, or shared with someone you trust.

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About the Author:

Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The World That We Knew, The Rules of Magic, The Marriage of Opposites, Practical Magic, The Red Garden, the Oprah’s Book Club selection Here on Earth, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, and The Dovekeepers. Her most recent novel is The World That We Knew. She lives near Boston.

Author's Website.

Review:

This is the first time I have read an Alice Hoffman novel and I was really impressed. In only 28 pages Hoffman pulls us into this story right from page one and leaves the readers wanting so much more from the main character twelve year old Adeline, who was named after a soap. After her father passed away Adeline stopped talking, she wouldn't talk to anyone. Her mother lived an adulterous life pushing her own daughter to the side for a man. This was a heart-wrenching coming of age story that you will definitively read in one sitting as you wont want to put it down until the very last page. I was left with so much hope and love for young Adeline.

I am looking forward to reading other novels by Alice Hoffman in the future. I give this short story a 5 out of 5 stars.