From the New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage of Opposites and The Dovekeepers comes a soul-searching story about a young woman struggling to redefine herself and the power of love, family, and fate. Growing up on Long Island, Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend’s future is destroyed in an accident, while … destroyed in an accident, while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt.
What happens when a life is turned inside out? When love is something so distant it may as well be a star in the sky? Faithful is the story of a survivor, filled with emotion–from dark suffering to true happiness–a moving portrait of a young woman finding her way in the modern world. A fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookstores, and men she should stay away from, Shelby has to fight her way back to her own future. In New York City she finds a circle of lost and found souls–including an angel who’s been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night.
Here is a character you will fall in love with, so believable and real and endearing, that she captures both the ache of loneliness and the joy of finding yourself at last. For anyone who’s ever been a hurt teenager, for every mother of a daughter who has lost her way, Faithful is a roadmap.
Alice Hoffman’s “trademark alchemy” (USA TODAY) and her ability to write about the “delicate balance between the everyday world and the extraordinary” (WBUR) make this an unforgettable story. With beautifully crafted prose, Alice Hoffman spins hope from heartbreak in this profoundly moving novel.
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Shelby is a character, by turns tragic and eccentric and touching, I’ll never forget. A remarkable story of a character I wasn’t at all sure would get her happy ending, but I was rooting for her and her merry cast of characters, every step of her journey.
Wow a powerful novel. A beautiful story of family, faith, and love. Impossible to put down. A story for anyone who has lost their way! Faithful is their map to the possibilities. Loved it.
Every time I read an Alice Hoffman book, I take away a bit of insight. It might be about myself or even another person. Faithful is a beautiful coming of age story about a young girl who was involved in a terrible accident that changed the course of her life and also those around her. The strength of family weaves itself through the entire book along with love and perseverance. I loved it!
The coming of age book that provides so much into the regrets, and family as well as relationships. The lifelong guilt of a life changing accident and the person that provides a reminder that they are still alive by sending postcards.
Pushing people away, Shelbie and Helena’s accident is the landing board that Shelbie begins a path of self destruction in a way to make herself pay for the accident that put Helena into a vegetative state. She turns from the popular and rule following high schooler to a drug and rule breaker. Ben and Shelbie walk along a path that provides each what they are looking for at the time and eventually a little more for one of them.
Shelbie is introduced to the love of dogs and the life altering way they need you and provide a whole world of love which impacts her and changes her having her for the first time to focus on a future.
This story provides a rage of emotions as well as a life long path of looking for forgiveness.
This author never disappoints.
What’s remarkable about “Faithful” is that the incident that changes Shelby’s life doesn’t involve some deep, dark secret, something out of the ordinary. What happened to Shelby was awful–she was driving, had an accident, and her best friend became vegetative. But there are no skeletons in the closet; this is a straightforward story of a girl struggling with guilt, and what it takes to awaken her to life again–to learn to love herself, and then others. It’s a richly complex story, raw and often not pretty, but the relationships are incredibly beautiful.
The first Alice Hoffman book I read. Masterful storytelling.
An unusual story about a tragedy caused by a teenage girl, Shelby, involving her best friend. Anyone can relate to tragedy, and so this story draws you in to see how this young woman and all those in her life cope and carry on. The story is a bit heavy at times in that regard, but that’s what’s realistic about it. It’s written with great detail and beauty, such insight into human emotion as is typical for Alice Hoffman. I love anything she writes because of the WAY she writes.
This story keeps you involved with wanting Shelby’s future to be better, with delving into her dark times that Ms. Hoffman writes as if she’d experienced them herself. I read this in a few sittings just because I was absorbed in Shelby’s life and journey, and couldn’t wait to discover her fate. There are some mystical elements that I wish were explored more, but still this was an compelling story.
I loved this possibly more than the other Hoffman books. I always find something I can relate to in many of her books, but particularly this one. A person can have their life turned upside down, and slowly find a way to get back to a life with meaning.
Hoffman may turn out to be one of my new favorite authors. She’s definitely one of those who makes me feel inadequate about my craft, and that’s a good thing: as a writer, I always want to be learning. She is a master of nuance and writing meaning between the lines. If you enjoy literary fiction, you should check this one out. My video review can be found here: http://www.carlalaureano.com/2minbookreview-faithful-by-alice-hoffman/