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Illumination Night: A Novel Kindle Edition By Author, Alice Hoffman

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4.1 out of 5 Stars –

Click Link above to Download your bargain Ebook Today by Bestselling Author, Alice Hoffman

A moving novel of fear, desire, loss, and discovery on Martha’s Vineyard, from the New York Times–bestselling author of The Dovekeepers and Seventh Heaven.

Elizabeth Renny has only made two decisions of consequence in her seventy-plus years. While the first, marrying her husband, had adequate results, the second—deciding she could fly from her bedroom window—is less successful. But her flight sets in motion a series of events that will forever change the lives of six residents of Martha’s Vineyard: a young boy who refuses to grow, a wife stifled by her irrational anxiety, a husband tempted by the unknown, a girl flirting with disaster, a gentle giant tortured by his size, and an old woman with nothing to lose.

Praised as “an intelligent novel” by the New York Times and “achingly vivid” by Newsday, Illumination Night is a sparkling and heartbreaking narrative that explores marriage, friendship, youth, yearning, disillusionment, and desire, a book as bright and memorable as the festival of lanterns for which it is named.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With an eye for household details and respect for daily events, Hoffman (Fortune’s Daughter unleashes the mythic forcefulness of ordinary life in this polished story of love and loneliness set on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Simon is in his fourth year and small even for his age when he sees white-robed Elizabeth Renny, a neighbor in her 75th, tumble out her attic window “like a cloud.” In her convalescence, Elizabeth is cared for by her rebellious teen-aged granddaughter Jody, sent from off-island. Jody sets her sights on Simon’s father, Andre, who restores antique motorcycles, raising doubts and fears in Vonny, Simon’s mother, Andre’s wife. Elizabeth recovers; Jody pines and plots for the taciturn Andre; Simon doesn’t grow; and Vonny’s anxieties bloom into full-fledged agoraphobia. Seasons advance. Jody learns the limits of her desires and meets a freakishly tall eggman; a child dies, another grows; Elizabeth decides she’d rather live than die; and Vonny faces her fears. Illumination Night, an annual celebration on Martha’s Vineyard when Victorian houses surrounding a park and bandstand are lit with hundreds of magical Japanese lanterns, provides apt title and image for this shimmering, radiant tale.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Daringly mixing comedy with tragedy . . . [Hoffman] has created a narrative that somehow makes myth out of the sticky complexities of contemporary marriage. . . . Her characters are branded onto one’s memory.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Vivid, convincing characters . . . Uncommon insight.” —People

“One of the best writers we have today—insightful, funny, intelligent, with a distinctive voice.” —The Plain Dealer

“There is a cumulative power to Illumination Night that is wondrous.” —Chicago Tribune

“[A] bright constellation of characters . . . draws the reader into the dusky, dreamy world of Alice Hoffman.” —St. Petersburg Times

“Not-so-delicate questions are raised in a wonderfully delicate way. . . . Achingly vivid.” —Newsday

“Alice Hoffman hits bull’s-eyes on the incomprehensions between the young and the old, on the magic and pain of ordinary life. She is erotic and romantic . . . funny . . . clever and humane.” —The Times (London)

From the Publisher

Illumination Night is the first book I ever read by Alice Hoffman. Was I in for a surprise! It is a lovely, uniquely imaginative story of an elderly woman, a young couple and boy giant on Martha’s Vineyard. Illumination Night refers to a 4th of July tradition on the island. Hoffman’s characters are so vulnerable, and believable, and memorable that I immediately went and found all of Hoffman’s books. There is always a magical element in all of Hoffman’s books that prompts us to look at life and people in a whole new way.
–Maureen O’Neal

From the Inside Flap

“Subtle touches…make this intelligent novel shine. Ms. Hoffman knows how to tell a story.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
Set on Martha’s Vineyard, here is a stunning novel that brings that beautiful island to vivid life–a novel that weaves together the lives of a little boy, an elderly woman, a blond giant, a young couple, and a teenaged girl…lives of intense erotic longing, of quiet understanding, of willful determination. It is a novel of magic and mystery, and a literary event that confirms Alice Hoffman as one of our finest and most compelling writers.

About the Author

Alice Hoffman was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island. She wrote her first novel, Property Of, while studying creative writing at Stanford University, and since then has published more than thirty books for readers of all ages, including the recent New York Times bestsellers The Museum of Extraordinary Things and The Dovekeepers. Two of her novels, Practical Magic and Aquamarine, have been made into films, and Here on Earth was an Oprah’s Book Club choice. All told, Hoffman’s work has been published in more than twenty languages and one hundred foreign editions. She lives outside of Boston.