Review Summaries

• Readers respond to the blend of lyricism and mystery. Many value the vulnerable characters, though some find the plot's coincidences prominent.

Reviews

• If you like a good mystery, with intriguing characters, you're going to love this one!

  Reading Alice Hoffman is like a wonderful escape from the mundane into a magical world with a strong sense of place. She always captures me with her very first sentence. "The last major crime in the town of Verity was in 1958, when one of the Platts shot his brother in an argument over a Chevy Nomad they had bought together on time. Usually it's so quiet you can hear the strangler figs dropping their fruit on the hoods of parked cars, leaving behind pulp and tiny black seeds..." You know it's going to get even better. And it does. When I grow up, I want to be Alice Hoffman. Her interior life must be a wonderful and fantastic place. (Actually, I suspect I'm a tad bit older than Hoffman!)

• Super read

  Creates a sense of place and smell from the beginning. Very well written characters carefully constructed. The type of book that once you start to reait you find it hard to put down Very good observations of small town U.S.A.

• quite a good read

  I enjoyed this book which I would say was a top end holiday read (i.e. not your Captain Corelli's Mandolin but not simple like your Jackie Collin's novel). Had that slightly mystical southern american feel. It wove sad stories with an uplifting yet realistic ending and a little romance. Pretty good.

• Good

  I can get lost in Alice Hoffmann wordy descriptions. She brings anything to live and her books have perfect rhythm to me. It's nice and comforting. Good story.

• A fascinating story

  Heart hurting but s satisfying read. Not all stories have happy endings, but this one grabs you from beginning to the end.

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