Synopses & Reviews
In a novel the
Village Voice calls "memorable" and "striking," Alice Hoffman vividly portrays a family shattered by tragedy when eleven-year-old Amanda is diagnosed with AIDS...
"Brilliant...explosive...heart-rending." --Chicago Tribune
"Graceful...emotionally potent...A cathartic tale that begs us, with heartbreaking eloquence, to stop looking the other way." --Glamour
"Within pages, the reader falls in love with this very real little girl... Moving, dramatic and painfully human." --Miami Herald
"Compelling power...tenderness and perceptiveness." --New York Times
"I have rarely encountered a work that has moved me as strongly... extraordinary." --Mademoiselle
"Deeply impressive...powerful." --Newsweek
"Deeply moving...Sensitivity and empathy...radiate from this beautiful novel." --Chicago Sun-Times
"Compassionate...This is a serious, honest novel." --Village Voice
"Tender, strikingly simple and deeply memorable." --Kirkus Reviews
"An affecting novel of exquisite delicacy, with humor, warmth, and sensitivity. Miss Hoffman heals wounds with the gentle touch of an angel." --Joseph Heller
Review
"Brilliant...explosive...heart-rending." Chicago Tribune
Review
"Graceful...emotionally potent...A cathartic tale that begs us, with heartbreaking eloquence, to stop looking the other way." Glamour
Review
"Within pages, the reader falls in love with this very real little girl...Moving, dramatic and painfully human." Miami Herald
Review
"Compelling power...tenderness and perceptiveness." New York Times
Review
"I have rarely encountered a work that has moved me as strongly...extraordinary." Mademoiselle
Review
"Deeply impressive...powerful." Newsweek
Review
"Deeply moving...Sensitivity and empathy...radiate from this beautiful novel." Chicago Sun-Times
Review
"Compassionate...This is a serious, honest novel." Village Voice
Review
"Tender, strikingly simple and deeply memorable." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"An affecting novel of exquisite delicacy, with humor, warmth, and sensitivity. Miss Hoffman heals wounds with the gentle touch of an angel." Joseph Heller
Review
"I fell in love with this book. I fell in love with this family...From now on, Alice Hoffman is on my list of must-read authors." Judy Blume
Synopsis
In a novel the Village Voice calls "memorable" and "striking," Alice Hoffman vividly portrays a family shattered by tragedy when eleven-year-old Amanda is diagnosed with AIDS...
Synopsis
The story of an American family shattered by tragedy. Ivan and Polly have two bright and talented children. Eight-year-old Charlie has his father's scientific mind. Amanda, eleven, possesses the unusual strength and determination that has made her a promising gymnast.
But her strength runs out as she becomes ill and when she is diagnosed with AIDS, her family must draw on their own strengths as the come face to face with their deepest fears.
About the Author
Alice Hoffman, an American novelist and screenwriter, was born in New York City in 1952. She earned a B.A. from Adelphi University in 1973 and an M.A. from Stanford in 1975 before publishing her first novel, Property Of, in 1977.
Known for blending realism and fantasy in her fiction, Hoffman often creates richly detailed characters who live on society's margins and places them in extraordinary situations as she did with At Risk, her 1988 novel about the AIDS crisis. Other novels include The Drowning Season (named a "notable book of 1979" by Library Journal) and Seventh Heaven, which first gained Hoffman a broad national audience. She has also written many screenplays, including adaptations of her own novels.