Costco Connection - September 2011

book pıck
Practical magic
A glimpse inside author Alice
Hoffman’s enchanting career

WHO DOESN’T love a little touch of magic? And what better way to encounter it than packaged in one of my favorite novels from proli;c author Alice Hoffman.

The book follows three women who are in love with the wrong men. Madeline ;nds herself attracted to her sister’s ;ancé. Frieda, a doctor’s daughter, has run off to London to become the muse of an ill-fated rock star. And Bryn is set to marry an Englishman although she’s secretly obsessed with her ex-husband. And then there’s Lucy. Several years ago she witnessed a terrible accident in the hotel where the three other women have sought refuge.

This novel leaves little doubt that Hoffman’s gift lies in her ability to write about relationships with an ease that seems as natural as breathing.

The Third Angel is available in most Costco warehouses.

For more book picks, see page 59.

FRANCE FREEMAN

By Hope Katz Gibbs

LOVE. LOSS. SURVIVORSHIP. These are the themes at the heart of the 18 novels, eight young adult books and three books of short fiction that the prolific Alice Hoffman has crafted since beginning her career in 1973.

Her novel Here on Earth was an Oprah Book Club choice in 1998. That same year, Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her young-adult novel Aquamarine made it to the silver screen in 2006, starring teen queens Joanna “JoJo” Levesque, Emma Roberts and Sara Paxton.

Hoffman says that while it’s thrilling to watch her books make a splash in theaters, her goal is to understand life’s biggest questions. Her novel At Risk, for instance, concerns a family dealing with AIDS, and can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools.

“I have a deep desire to find the answers to
questions about love, death and how to cope with
disappointment,” the 50-something writer tells The
Connection from her home outside Boston. “I work
to find those answers through writing, because it’s
not really something you can do in everyday life.”
The supernatural is another theme that the
writer weaves through her work— including this
month’s book pick, The Third Angel, a story that
came to Hoffman when she was on a book tour in
London back in the 1980s.

“When you read the book you’ll find out that

there’s the suggestion of a ghost sighting, and that part is true,” she insists. “I heard what may have been a ghost in the hallway of the hotel. That got my imagination going.”

The author says that as a kid growing up on Long Island, New York, she was a fanatical reader who loved to write, but never thought she’d grow up to become a novelist. After high school, she took a job at the nearby Doubleday book factory. Then, one day at lunch, she up and quit.

“I never really thought too much about the future, although I did think

I’d marry Paul McCartney,” she admits. That day, though, she realized that her brother was right when he suggested she go to Stanford. Soon after, she applied for and won the Mirrielees Fellowship at the Stanford Creative Writing Center, where she met Professor Albert Guerard, and his wife, the writer Maclin Bocock Guerard.

DEBORAH FEINGOLD

They helped Hoffman publish a short story in the magazine Fiction, which caught the eye of book editor Ted Solotaroff. He contacted the then 21-year-old to ask if she had a novel ready.

Hoffman immediately began working on Property Of, a book that told the tale of a lonely outsider who tries to become the “property of” a local gang’s brooding leader—only to discover what can, and cannot, be possessed.

While Hoffman has a strong idea and characters in mind when she sits down to write any book, she says they almost always take on a life of their own. That certainly holds true for her next book, The Dovekeepers, which is expected to be a blockbuster when it’s published (and available in most warehouses) in October.

The story begins in 70 C.E., after the fall of Masada, when 900 Jews held out for months against armies of Romans on the mountain in the Judean desert. While for centuries it was thought there were no survivors, in reading the work of the ancient historian Josephus, Hoffman discovered that two women and five children actually may have survived.

“As soon as I learned that, I knew the novel would be about what happened to those people,” Hoffman says, admitting that The Dovekeepers took five years to finish, and is one of her most ambitious works to date. Early reviews suggest it is also one of her most mesmerizing. Stay tuned for more. C

Alice Hoffman

COSTCO HAS 50 SIGNED COPIES of Alice Hoffman’s The Third Angel to give away. For a chance to win, send an email with your name and mailing address to give away@costco.com, with “Alice Hoffman” in the subject line. Or print your name, address and daytime phone number on a postcard or letter and send it to: Alice Hoffman, The Costco Connection, P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088.

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS SWEEPSTAKES.

Purchase will not improve odds of winning. Sweepstakes is sponsored by Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. Open to legal residents of the U. S. (except Puerto Rico) who are age 18 or older at the time of entry. One entry per household. Entries must be received by October 1, 2011. Winners will be randomly selected and noti;ed by mail on or before November 1, 2011. The value of the prize is $14.95. Void where prohibited. Winners are responsible for all applicable federal, state and local taxes. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. Employees of Costco or Random House and their families are not eligible. Signed book giveaway