From the New York Times best-selling author of The Marriage of Opposites and The Dovekeepers comes a soul-searching story about a young woman struggling to redefine herself and the power of love, family, and fate.

Growing up on Long Island, Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend's future is destroyed in an accident while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt.

What happens when a life is turned inside out? When love is something so distant it may as well be a star in the sky? Faithful is the story of a survivor filled with emotion, from dark suffering to true happiness - a moving portrait of a young woman finding her way in the modern world. A fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookstores, and men she should stay away from, Shelby has to fight her way back to her own future. In New York City she finds a circle of lost and found souls - including an angel who's been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night.

Here is a character you will fall in love with, so believable and real and endearing that she captures both the ache of loneliness and the joy of finding yourself at last. For anyone who's ever been a hurt teenager, for every mother of a daughter who has lost her way, Faithful is a road map.

Alice Hoffman's "trademark alchemy" (USA Today) and her ability to write about the "delicate balance between the everyday world and the extraordinary" (WBUR) make this an unforgettable story. With beautifully crafted prose, Alice Hoffman spins hope from heartbreak in this profoundly moving novel.

Listening Length

8 hours and 27 minutes
Author

Alice Hoffman
Narrator

Amber Tamblyn
Audible release date

November 1, 2016
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN

B01ITO377Q
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	8 hours and 27 minutes
Author	Alice Hoffman
Narrator	Amber Tamblyn
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	November 01, 2016
Publisher	Simon & Schuster Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B01ITO377Q
Best Sellers Rank	#59,153 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #209 in Magical Realism Fiction #1,463 in Psychological Thrillers (Audible Books & Originals) #1,660 in Magical Realism

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2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Hoffman does it yet again

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2019

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I THOUGHT I'd read every novel Alice Hoffman ever wrote - how this one escaped me I'll never know. It was actually selected for our next Book Club reading or I may never have known about it. Hoffman is truly 'magical'. Her sense of things in a nearby realm fascinates me. This is a very poignant story of someone who lives a portion of her life loaded with guilt over something not her fault. It's about the burden of that guilt, incredible resilience, and the power of love and humanity. Right before Chapter 1, Hoffman quotes a phrase in Leonard Cohen's "Anthem": "Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering; there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." It's suggested in the Reading Group Guide after the novel ends that a Book Club listen to "Anthem"-then discuss why Hoffman opens Faithful with the above lyrics-i.e. how you think it connects to the novel, and to Shelby (the protagonist). There is a lot of love in this story, but the love that blew me away the most was Shelby's mother's-there is nothing on this earth Sue would not have done for her suffering daughter. Oh those times of them laying on the backyard table staring at the stars at night....and after months of silence in the psych ward when Shelby finally speaks the six words to her mother about what an orderly has been doing to her, her mother looks into Shelby's soul and removes her from the facility without one nanosecond's hesitation. Then there are Ben and James - who has ever been blessed enough in life to run across men like that, who understand your insides? Another interesting suggestion for Book Club is discussion of the book's title: Is it the perfect one? Would you think of something else after reading the story? The friendship with Maravelle is exquisite. And then there are all the rescued dogs. The mysterious postcards Shelby receives over the years post-accident each contain just two words-these notes are one of the most poignant parts of the novel: i.e. Say something; Do something; Be something; Feel something. Each note has a special inked drawing surrounding it, i.e. a heart held in the palm of a hand with the words Faith, Sorrow, Shame, Hope. I cannot express myself well enough to show my love of this heartwrenching novel. I will continue looking at things in a different way whenever possible, thanks to the magic of Hoffman.

10 people found this helpful

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SheriReho

Not my favorite Hoffman, but still enjoyed it.

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2017

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I do 99.9% of your book reading on my Kindle Paperwhite these days. Since I stopped (mostly) buying hardback and paperback books, I find that I'very become pretty stingy about paying for Kindle books. I "rent" a lot of books from the Kindle lending library or download free books, so paying full price for a newly-published Kindle book is something I VERY rarely do.

However, being a Hoffman lover, I couldn't stop myself from pressing "BUY" when I saw she had a new book out. Am I sorry? Only a little. This novel is not as lyrical or as wow-inducing as some of her others (Red Garden was a favorite of mine), but it kept my interest and I did finish it. Here's the rub--there were days I felt like reading, but didn'the feel like reading THIS book. Why? It is depressing as hell sometimes.

A tragic event substantially changes the lives of two teenage girls--one irreparably, and one not quite. While I can certainly remember times earlier in my life where I allowed myself to wallow in a bit of self-loathing, but one of these girls takes it to such an extreme that I felt put off. Guilt, I get--we've all done stupid things in our youth--but years of physically and psychically harmful self loathing? Nope.

So, yes, I finished the book...eventually; but it wasn't a book that pulled me in, made me want to keep reading. That is a disappointment...from this author, and at the price of 15 bucks for a Kindle book.

18 people found this helpful

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MyHumbleOpinion

Needed This

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2017

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So I was stuck on the tarmac at JFK for 3 hours and this book was a welcome diversion. I read for 3 hours straight until we let off to go back to the airport. I spent the time waiting at the airport finishing it up. I am not the type of person who reads a book in one or two sittings, so that speaks volumes about how interesting and palatable the book is. Remember, there were screaming babies around and cranky adults, so I needed something that didn’t require maximum concentration either. Anyway, this book is exactly what I needed. Although I didn’t initially like the main character, who does not initially navigate a tragedy with much grace, I learn to care for her as she learns to care for herself. She repeatedly makes selfish, stupid decisions and the reader is a prisoner to this. The author doesn’t overly explain these events and sometimes leaves these frustratingly large gaps between stages in her evolution, but this method makes for quick and satisfying transitions in the narrative that wouldn’t work with a less skilled writer. My one criticism is that the big reveal that the reader is waiting for is a little bit unbelievable and too coincidental, but you know what? Sometimes you are not looking for Maya Angelou or Ernest Hemingway. Sometimes you want a cheesy coincidental twist to balance the tragedy in a story. I cried and cried (in front of everyone at the airport) at the end. Not because it was bittersweet, but because there were so many truths about tragedy, youth, family, and relationships that could not be denied. Thank you to skilled authors who don’t take us through tragedies without a beauty behind the ugly truths. I immediately bought the book for my mother and have recommended it to all of my friends.

12 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

comm88

Plain awful!!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 20, 2018

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Turgid in the extreme!!

I'd read some of Alice Hoffman's stuff in the past, but this was, to me, unreadable. I managed to wade through 22% of ... frankly desperately uninteresting rubbish.

One minute the protagonist Shelby has taken to her death bed in the cellar unable to move, feed herself, get out of bed, talk to anyone, interact, or face life. The next we read she's upped and offed and gone with Ben (her weed supplier) to live in New York, where, daft as it may seem, she suddenly has a job and is rapidly elevated to store manager. And yes, to thicken the plot we have her kidnapping two damaged stray dogs used by beggars on a rotational basis to wean money from idiots.

Nothing about the book as far as I'd read it was realistic, particularly sensible, or in any way uplifting. There was no plot as far as I could see except for some disjointed individual bathing page after page in utter misery and making you, the reader, feel like you wanted to give her a right good kicking for being so feckless.

How this book has been so generously reviewed and warmly received is TOTALLY beyond me. At least Catcher In The Rye went somewhere and did so pretty fast in ways that were interesting, intriguing and memorable. Trust me, this is nothing like that. I absolutely hated it.

5 people found this helpful

Curlygirl79

I found this to be a strange book to read ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2018

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I found this to be a strange book to read. The style of writing felt disconnected and emotionless, but I wonder if this is deliberate because of how the main character reacts to the events that took place before the book. Deliberate or not, I found that this made it hard to really feel invested in the characters, and at times it left me cold. However, there was something about it that still kept me hooked in and made me feel that I needed to see it through to the end.

3 people found this helpful

Eleanor

Lovely

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 24, 2021

Verified Purchase

I bought this novel accidentally and had no idea what it was about. I was really pleasantly surprised by the hauntingly sweet, trauma filled tale of a girl who learns to live again. Really lovely even in the darkest moments.

ode79

My first Hoffman Novel

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

My first Alice Hoffman novel and it actually was very good. The book opens with tradegy. It was very good, an engaging read, well written with wise messages to a older teenage audience.
I did find certain parts of the book exhausting at times, some aspects emotionally draining as realistic.

One person found this helpful

Jude M

Well worth reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

At first I wondered if I was going to like the main character, but I was drawn into the story and cared what happened to Shelby and the other characters.

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