Hoffman, Alice

(US, 1952– )

Hoffman's novels are usually set in ordinary American small towns where quiet respectability is playfully intermingled with the sinister and magical. In Turtle Moon (1992) Lucy moves to Verity, Florida, with her son Keith to start a new life after divorce. When Keith runs away with the baby of a murdered woman, and Lucy and Officer Julian Cash chase after him, respectable Verity becomes the location of a murder mystery. In Second Nature (1995) recently divorced Robin moves to a new town with her son. They secretly befriend Steven the ‘Wolfman’, raised by wolves and on the run from a psychiatric ward. Hoffman contrasts the sinister forces in the town with Steven's natural innocence. In Practical Magic (1995), recently adapted for a Hollywood film, two sisters are ostracized by a small Massachusetts community because their aunts are said to be witches.

Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Alison Lurie  DJ