I wasn't so keen on this book. Now, granted, I'll happily caveat that this was on an abridged audio edition by Nova, and I am a huge fan of Alice Hoffman to begin with, and this is not her recent novel. But, somehow, it left me a little cold.

Mostly, I believe it was because there was no typical Hoffman magic or mystery to the story. A woman named March returns to her home town with her daughter when her housekeeper dies. After the funeral, she finds herself drawn towards a young man who was raised in her household by her father, with whom she had a strong, nigh co-dependant relationship with in her youth.

They start an affair, the relationship definitely takes a sombre turn (or three), and then, all at once, the book sort of ends. The ending was almost trite, actually. Much like 'Second Nature,' this one didn't do much at all beyond mundane and angry relationship angst, and it left me a little tired on behalf of all the characters concerned. Indeed, there wasn't a single character in the tale for whom I felt relief, or gained a sense of 'they've been saved' about, which is something I adore about Hoffman usually. Even the language seemed less lyrical and immediate.

Perhaps I just need a break from her, but either way, this in no way reached the intense wonderful levels of writing I know and love Hoffman for, like in 'Blue Diary,' 'River King,' 'Practical Magic,' 'Local Girls,' and 'The Probable Future.'