Fortunes Daughter, Alice Hoffman
Fortunes Daughter, Alice Hoffman
List: $22.95 | Sale: $16.07
Club: $11.47

Fortune's Daughter

Author: Alice Hoffman

Narrator: Carrington MacDuffie

Unabridged: 7 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/15/2014

Categories: Fiction, Women

Synopsis

This fierce and beautiful story charts the histories of two women: Rae, young, unmarried, and far from home, awaits the birth of her first child. Lila, a fortune-teller with no interest in the future, lost her own daughter more than a quarter of a century earlier in New York. When these two women meet in Southern California, it's earthquake weather—the time when unexpected things happen. Immediately, their lives and fortunes become intertwined, as Rae tries to break away from the man she has been with since high school and Lila reaches into the past to search for the child she lost.This contemporary world is set against a series of Russian folktales told by an old woman who lives at the edge of Manhattan, in a place so well hidden it can only be found once in a lifetime.

About Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including the Practical Magic series and the Oprah’s Book Club selection Here on Earth, among others. Eight of her novels have made the New York Times bestsellers list.

About Carrington MacDuffie

Carrington MacDuffie is a voice actor and recording artist who has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, received numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has been a frequent finalist for the Audie Award, including for her original audiobook, Many Things Invisible. Alongside her narration work, she has released a new album of original songs, Only an Angel.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Cathryn on March 02, 2022

Despite the title, this is as much a story about mothers as it is about daughters. It is a story about the heartbreak of mothering and the loss of daughters. And then those daughters become mothers. The circle continues. Written by Alice Hoffman, this is the story of two women: Rae and Lila. Rae Perr......more

Goodreads review by Heidi on December 29, 2012

When I read this, I was ready for another Alice Hoffman book. She takes the ordinary world, makes it completely awful, and then pulls all of the magic and wonder out of it, like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat. I have several Alice Hoffman books on my sagging Kindle bookshelves and not sure w......more

Goodreads review by Joseph on January 09, 2023

An early gem, published in 1985, from this prolific, amazingly gifted novelist. A juxtaposition between the lives of two ladies: Rae, a young, unmarried woman, with an off again, on again relationship with her boyfriend, who has once again deserted her when he finds out she is pregnant with his baby......more

Goodreads review by Patricia on February 24, 2009

I love Alice Hoffman! Her prose is like poetry. I was introduced to her about ten years ago by a friend. It was Practical Magic. Some of her plots are better than others but the imagery of her words never fails to capture me.......more

Goodreads review by Jan on September 19, 2020

This is an early Hoffman that I had never read before. (If it had been my first, I would not have read most everything she has written since.) The magic is there, even when it misfires. There is considerable evidence of the excellent writer Hoffman will become—the magic realism, the gorgeous languag......more

Quotes

“One of the best novels to come out of the United States in a decade.” Annie Dillard, New York Times bestselling author

“By turns heartbreaking and heartwarming…an intimate, lovely novel, most of whose concerns swirl about the pain and joys of motherhood.” People

“This novel’s great strength lies in its two heroines, who both find themselves drawn, without plans, hopes, or full understanding, into the inevitably mythological process of pregnancy and childbirth…It is beautifully and matter-of-factly told.” New York Times Book Review

“Hoffman is a marvelous writer with a painter’s eye who takes the landscape of ordinary people experiencing ordinary emotions and colors them in unexpected ways.” Washington Post Book World

"Evocative." Chicago Tribune

“Hoffman has the uncanny knack of combining the mundane, everyday experiences with a touch of the occult and folklore…What lifts this novel into the ranks of the memorable is its evocative, lyrical quality of writing. Hoffman swings from the everyday to the otherworldly with ease and conviction. She lays bare the deepest secret thoughts at one moment, then segues into bits of humor mixed with pathos.” San Diego Union-Tribune

“One of those rare books that isn’t comparable to other books at all.” Boston Herald

“A seductive exploration of the nature of friendship, the exquisite presence of beauty and magic.” Publishers Weekly

“Hoffman, as always, shows a talent here for psychic journeys into the past and for a certain portentous tension.” Kirkus Reviews

Awards

  • New York Times Notable Book
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