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Blackbird House

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 4,895 ratings · 493 reviews

With “incantatory prose” that “sweeps over the reader like a dream,” (Philadelphia Inquirer), Hoffman follows her celebrated bestseller The Probable Future, with an evocative work that traces the lives of the various occupants of an old Massachusetts house over a span of two hundred years.

In a rare and gorgeous departure, beloved novelist Alice Hoffman weaves a web of tale...more

Paperback, 238 pages

Published March 29th 2005 by Ballantine Books (first published January 1st 2004)

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Mar 23, 2013 Will Byrnes rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-stories

Places have much greater permanence than people. Land exists for eons (now don’t get picky about ocean fronts migrating and the Big Island expanding. You know what I mean) whereas people last mere generations, and often much less. On the surface at least, Blackbird House is a novel of place, in which the Blackbird House of the title is the stage, and each short story offers characters who play across it. There should be a name (and probably is, but I just do not know it, novel-in-stories or link...more Places have much greater permanence than people. Land exists for eons (now don’t get picky about ocean fronts migrating and the Big Island expanding. You know what I mean) whereas people last mere generations, and often much less. On the surface at least, Blackbird House is a novel of place, in which the Blackbird House of the title is the stage, and each short story offers characters who play across it. There should be a name (and probably is, but I just do not know it, novel-in-stories or linked-stories maybe) for so-called novels that are comprised of linked short-stories. Maybe, as this one is about a house, it could be a building-roman. This is a form Hoffman employs rarely. Her later book, The Red Garden, does exactly the same thing, watching the lives that intersect a place over time. But she usually writes novels in a more traditional format.

Hoffman is very easy to read. Her characters are interesting and engaging, and I almost always want her people to persist beyond the pages of their particular tale. Sometimes they cross from one story to the next, and it is always a wonderful thing. The Blackbird House of the title was built in 18th century Cape Cod, at a time when the British were enforcing a blockade. Many of the locals were seafaring folk, fishermen mostly. John Hadley, a fisherman, and builder of the Blackbird House, who had planned to live a safer existence as a farmer, is at sea with his two sons, hoping for one last, end-of-season haul, when a sudden storm erupts, leaving only one survivor. Well, one human survivor. Young Isaac had taken along a blackbird that he had raised from a chick, and that blackbird makes it back home. This being Alice Hoffman, the bird not only made it back, but had turned white, supposedly from having touched sea foam. And so it begins.

Odd events take place in Hoffman’s magical universe. Pilot whales beach en masse, the voices of those not quite passed seem to be singing; a shipwreck survivor’s hands are marked by the copper bands of a barrel that had saved him, rumors of a serpent arise; the white blackbird puts in an appearance in every story, a stand-in for, or reminder of the title house, or maybe a reminder of an existential crisis for one of the characters, maybe just the spirit of the place; the color red seems to seep from the earth itself, a giant fish saves a shipwreck survivor, then takes payment by biting off one of the man’s legs. The man spits up fish teeth for the rest of his days. In other words, a typical Alice Hoffman magical, almost fairy-tale book. What fun!

The stories traverse two hundred years, and touch on some of the darker sides of our history. A poor woman, seemingly targeted by God or nature for particularly harsh treatment, manages to survive, somewhat addled, and the townies see her as a witch, with the accompanying shunning. This is New England after all.

As a summer resident of the Cape for 25 years by the time Blackbird House was published, Hoffman had a pretty good familiarity with the environment that informs her stories. This supported her tendency to ground this work with aspects of the land itself. In a relatively sere landscape, in which most local soil is not good for much, the land on which the Blackbird House sits stands out. Early on the property is planted with a pear tree that produces red fruit. Sweet peas and sweet turnips, planted in an early story feed characters in subsequent tales. Several characters manifest unusual, extreme connections to nature. One resident adds a bit of cannabis to the local flora, but that remains mostly out of sight in following tales. Several characters seem to have a rapport with the land that would make Tom Bombadil proud.

Loss is a permanent resident. From the widow of the opening piece to Ruth, in The Witch of Truro, who loses her parents to smallpox and her home to fire, and in a later story her husband; love is sought, sometimes found, often lost. This collection of stories has enough instances of loss and subsequent salvation that it could easily have been titled Lost and Found on the Cape.

These are mostly tales of strong women. A few male characters get their moments in the spotlight, but it is primarily a female’s stage. Having to overcome misfortune, having to struggle against nature, ignorance, fear, lost hope, these women struggle to survive, whether that means doing in an abusive spouse, shearing off locks to aid in disguising as a man and joining the army, taking up residence with a one-legged blacksmith just to have a roof over her head, battling cancer, enduring years of abuse, suffering with loneliness, struggling to gain the affection of a man. Hope does battle with despair.

Hoffman offers a bit of mirroring in her front and back. The opening story has a 10-year old drowning at sea, and another young lad comes to a dark end in the final pages. This may have a root in Hoffman's personal experience. Hoffman bought an old Cape Cod house that was supposedly haunted by the ghost of a 10 year old who had drowned. During the writing of some of these stories, Hoffman was enduring chemo for cancer. In fact while she was being treated she met a neighbor, a girl, who was also being treated. That she incorporated into her story such earth-bound symbols of regeneration, the pear tree, the turnips, seems like no accident in light of that. Nor do the repeated struggles with misfortune that her characters endure.

Alice Hoffman has written many wonderful novels. Whether one considers this a true novel or some other form of literature, The Blackbird House is an engaging, fascinating and satisfying read, combining the grounding of earth with flight of fantasy, in short, the work of a master of her craft.
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Dec 12, 2007 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Hoffman fans/literary lovers

The title for this book, according to Good Reads, indicates that this is a novel, and in a way it is. But it's more of a series of short stories, all centered around a house haunted by a white blackbird, the pet of a young boy lost at sea with his father.

With each story, Hoffman paints a picture of a new generation living in the house. Each story is different and special in its own way. There's tragedy, love, hope...all things found in abundance in all of Hoffman's novels, threaded through seve...more

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May 22, 2010 Annalisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Annalisa by: Erin

Shelves: book-club, chick-lit, literary, short-stories-poetry

A charming collection of stories detailing the residents of a farmhouse in Cape Cod spanning two hundred years. It took me several stories to realize that the book followed the house not the people, but once I understood that, I stopped trying to connect their stories and enjoyed the vivid setting. I could see and smell that New England charm as Hoffman breathed life to generations of American culture.

4 likes · like · see review

May 11, 2012 Dani Peloquin rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have to be honest, I read this book months ago but was unable at the time to find the words to describe this novel. I just have to start by saying that it is one of the best novels I have ever read in my life (and I clearly read a lot). Previous to reading Blackbird House, I had never picked up an Alice Hoffman novel. I knew that she had written Practical Magic and some other novels in the same vein and I thought that she wouldn't be my kind of author. However, when I cracked the spine on the...more

6 likes · like · see review

Oct 08, 2007 K M rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This lovely book contains short stories about the various inhabitants of a farmhouse in Cape Cod over a 200 year period. The stories are refreshingly unique, yet bound together by several common threads: the farmhouse itself, the land and all that has been planted on it over time, a strange white blackbird, recurring characters and/or their progeny, and the color red. All of these things make the reader feel familiar with the land and property in an intimate way - as if the reader is connected w...more

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May 29, 2013 Elisha Condie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really like Alice Hoffman. Usually. This book is almost exactly like “The Red Garden” – but instead of the stories centering around a town called Blackwell, they all center around Blackbird House – built on the edge of the Cape by a sailor. Sailor and sons die in storm, wife goes a little nutty, and thus begins the whole book of short chapters about all the inhabitants thereafter.

And it worked for me in the other book just like this. I liked how the people were interconnected with each othe...more

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May 12, 2013 Sarah Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was reading this and I was half way through the second chapter when I thought hmmm is this a set of short stories? Turned out it wasn't, I was just being a bit dim, it is the story of a house, blackbird house. Written by Alice Hoffman, and you can't much go wrong with a Hoffman novel she's a sturdy sort of writer always dependable for a good yarn, this fairly short book is like I said the story of house over maybe 200 years or so. It tells the tales of the families that lived in it, the majori...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Janette Greene rated it 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED this book. I saw it at the library and got it because I was intrigued by her approach with the "story of the house". Though a bit confusing at first- whenever it progressed to the next story, it was difficult to figure out who and how the next person resided there, but my confusion didn't last for long. It reflected just how I feel when I walk into any old or abandoned building. These are the stories I feel; this is what these places try to tell me, that I can only almost hear. Most of t...more

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Oct 02, 2011 Mary-Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this all in a rush last night. I realized suddenly that it was October, and this meant that my book club was meeting next weekend. Thanks to the magic of the Kindle, the book arrived within seconds of my purchase, and I started to read. I was quickly engrossed. I haven't read any Alice Hoffman in years, and now I can't remember why not! She spins beautiful interconnected tales, all surrounding a particular town (and really, a particular farm) far out on the Cape. The characters are vivid,...more

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Nov 26, 2010 megan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Blackbird House is a small cottage near Cape Cod and the stories within this collection all center around its inhabitants. The book starts at some point in the late 18th century and progresses up to present day, with many of the characters' stories interwoven as the generational plot changes occur. As with any collection, there were some stories that I loved (loved!) and some stories that I was just lukewarm on. I particularly liked the thread following Violet, her son Lion and his son Lion, Jr....more

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Jun 25, 2010 Gina rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who like sad romances

This book was good, but it couldve been so much better.... Basically its a series of short stories, all taking place at the same little cottage in Cape Code, with a generation or so passing between each entry. The characters are mostly tragic, with an occasional happy ending thrown in to keep things from getting TOO depressing. Each story hinges on love, whether romantic or platonic, and the discovery, exploration, and often, loss of this love. Although the stories are predictable, the character...more

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Jan 18, 2010 Dree rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-reads, library-books-2010

I grabbed this off the popular fiction shelf at my library. I then read it in less than 24 hours.

I enjoyed this book, but ultimately found it less than satisfying. I found the first story--of the Hadleys--to be the most moving. Though I loved the sweet peas, turnips, and pear tree continuing (and appropriately changing through time) through the stories, I found the white blackbird to be kind of lame. I am still confused as to whether the original blackbird was white, if he turned white after the...more

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Jan 12, 2011 Liza rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: library-loans, 2011, hoffman

I really love these sorts of inter-connected stories. I love the recurrence of symbolic images and the power of recurring themes. Hoffman has distilled the best qualities of her novels into these short stories, connected by one place over time. Different families through successive generations find themselves at Blackbird House, whether drawn there by unknown, invisible forces or called there by some deep emotional resonance... the characters in these stories struggle with life and emotion and r

...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Mark by: Will Byrnes

Shelves: short-stories

Once again the curse of GR website swallowed a review. So screamingly annoying that the laptop almost was thrown across the room. However I am determined that Alice Hoffman will receive the praise she is due for this lovely book so I shall do the whole bloody thing again. Goodreads, I truly hate you sometimes!!

This collection, to use a somewhat contrived metaphor, is like a number of small coloured stones or polished glass strung together to create a simple but very effective thing of beauty. By...more Once again the curse of GR website swallowed a review. So screamingly annoying that the laptop almost was thrown across the room. However I am determined that Alice Hoffman will receive the praise she is due for this lovely book so I shall do the whole bloody thing again. Goodreads, I truly hate you sometimes!!

This collection, to use a somewhat contrived metaphor, is like a number of small coloured stones or polished glass strung together to create a simple but very effective thing of beauty. By themselves none of the stories blew me away but linked by their common theme they were astounding. The common theme is love but in its myriad of forms and across some 200 years of local history not following a single bloodline family but rather by exploring the lives, loves and, it has to be said, frequent deaths of the inhabitants of a narrow spit of land.

Hoffman uses the healthy, energising, transforming love found in all areas of life but she also explores the way love can become misshapen and grindingly destructive. She reflects on the ability of lovers to overcome and survive and she recognizes the way love can embitter and stunt. Love, she says, is necessary for life but of itself it is not magic, it still needs moulding and controlling. Love is freeing and can be transformative of the life of the one who is loved but that transformation has to be the by-product not the intention.

These stories are linked overtly by their geography and by the over-riding theme of love but they are also less obviously linked by the run of characters. The stories are self-contained reflections but they are often left open-ended where the resolution first can grow in the imagination of the reader but then is revisited in the next story, sometimes through obvious associations but sometimes by a chance detail left camouflaged by the side of the path of the next story as it takes the reader deeper on into the history of the land. You could also miss it but after a few pages of Hoffman's style you swiftly become accustomed, to quote the flyleaf, "her heartbreaking clarity". With a few of the stories the denoument pierces the reader as it spears down like a damoclean sword which you knew was hanging precariously .

You knew of this threat because it needs to be faced that Hoffman rejoices, if that is the right word, in the bleak sorrow of the death not so much of love as the lover. All her stories bring us into the atmosphere of the vulnerability and fragility of life. Indeed every time I opened one of the stories i began looking for the likely corpse at the end. It reminded me rather of the game my brothers and I used to enter into in the 1970's whilst watching Star Trek. 'Spot-the-bit-actor-who-had-no-chance-of-returning-to-the-Starship-Enterprise-with-a-pulse". Admittedly that was never very difficult, it was the bloke you had never seen
before whereas in Hoffman's creations you wait rather nervously for the inevitable if unknown victim.

So, her stories are sad, they are poignant reminders of the need to work at love, to never take it for granted but also to make sure you rejoice in it when it comes. And it is that power to enlarge and enhance life which I take from this collection. None of the stories are histrionic, none of them are miserable for the sake of misery, she is not so much a Prophet or Oracle of doom as she is a pointer to live the opportunities offered. This is the first of her work I have read, I cannot imagine and I most certainly hope it will not be the last. I closed the book with the last simple image in my head and it made me smile. The final impression with which you leave this small world of hers is one of hope and possibility. Lovely.
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Mar 11, 2012 Esta rated it 4 of 5 stars

I went into this book with an open mind - I hadn't seen any reviews, I hadn't had any recommendations from anyone, and in fact I had stumbled up on the book purely by chance.
What a gem it turned out to be!

(view spoiler)...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Greg Rouse rated it 1 of 5 stars

I was dissappointed with this book. It seemed to have a very novel idea and approach but just didn't deliver. There was such potential for this to be dazzling, yet instead it gave me a headache.

Firstly, the story was very impersonal. I felt completely on the outside looking in as if hovering over the plot with no interest or interaction with those involved. It was as if I were a mold on a tree growing with busseling life all around me. I can see it, but don't comprehend and could care less sinc...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 13, 2010 Jess Michaelangelo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, fiction, library, wishlist

This being my first read by Alice Hoffman, I must say--I think I've found a new author to add to my favorites list. I'm absolutely itching to go out and read everything else she's written.

What I loved the most about Alice Hoffman's writing was her style. It was absolutely phenomenal. Between her use of words and her descriptions, I was there. This is definitely one of those books that you just want to soak up and enjoy the words. However, for being a book that at times reads almost like poetry,...more

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Mar 16, 2009 Bella rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

I would actually give this book at least 3 1/2 stars. I love the way Hoffman writes, but I did find a few difficulties with this book.

If I were her editor, I would have told her to write fewer vignettes and elaborate on the ones she decided to keep. Each of the stories contains vivid, richly drawn characters that deserved more plot development. There was very little transition between "chapters," making me feel as though I might have missed something along the way. While her writing is so good...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Blackbird House is a collect stories that span over 200 years. The book begins with a story about the family who built the house and continues to tell about the lives of all the inhabitants of Blackbird House.

Each story has one occurring character, a white blackbird. I think this bird is suppose to be like a spirit watching over the house and all those that live there. There are also plants and a summer kitchen that play a role in all the stories. They become a character of in themselves.

The st...more

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May 28, 2013 Gretchen rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was initially intrigued by the plot of this book, which is essentially a collection of short stories revolving around a property on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I'm unsure if the author intended to create a mystery or light horror novel, but the imagery she used implies that, in my opinion. For example, one of the home's occupants over time was a woman who behaved strangely and was assumed to be a witch. This mystery was never fully resolved. Was the house haunted by the former occupants? Did the...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 04, 2011 Ally Armistead rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved "Practical Magic," by Alice Hoffman, so when I came across "Blackbird House," I had to pick it up. Written in the same effortless lyricism as "Magic," "Blackbird" is a series of thematically connected short stories that explore the intersection of grief and love. The stories all take place in America, though in radically different time periods ranging from 1600s Jamestown to modern day. One of the most delightful aspects of the collection is the interconnectedness of time and place: how...more

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Sep 02, 2009 Bookworm rated it 3 of 5 stars

I picked up a copy of Blackbird House at my local library because I'm a big fan of Alice Hoffman's work. Her book The Ice Queen is one of my favorites. I really had no idea what this book was about. After reading it I have some mixed thoughts on it. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. It didn't grab me, I found I had to push myself to read it and finish it.

The book is a collection of short stories based on people who lived in a farmhouse in Cape Cod called Blackbird House. The storie...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Carlotta rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mi piacciono molto tutti i libri della Hoffman che ho letto sino ad ora, anche se il migliore resta "Practical Magic". In questo libro, sono interconnessi tra di loro 12 racconti legati a una casa a Cape Cod.
Attraverso questi racconti si viaggia nel tempo e si conoscono tutte le persone che vi hanno vissuto attraverso le generazioni in oltre 200 anni di storia. Si seguono brevemente le loro vite, intense, magiche e a volte tristi.
I salti storici non sono affatto pesanti o complessi, ma scorrevol...more

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Jun 01, 2009 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Alice Hoffman writes without a trace of melodrama, which is a good thing, because the stories in this book are full of melodrama.

Whether it is men and boys lost at sea or promising young people snuffed out in traffic accidents or a woman who takes matters into her own hands toward an abusive husband, the tales in "Blackbird House" brim with dramatic twists and turns.

Hoffman handles this by quietly inserting these vertiginous twists as though they were just one more sentence in a row of others. E...more

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Dec 08, 2009 Beth A. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Beth A. by: Library Book Club Nov 09

Shelves: fantasy

This is a group of short stories that are interconnected, taking place at the same house through time. I loved it. The descriptions are vibrant, the stories intense. Each story happens at the point of a pivotal change in someone’s life. They are filled with sorrow and devastation, and are about starting again and connecting with others. There is a theme of a special relationship between mothers and sons. The stories were filled with a wide range of realistic emotion.

I loved the use of symbols; s...more

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Aug 24, 2011 Laurie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love Alice Hoffman's writing style, with that ethereal, possibility of something supernatural always present, but this book was very different from others of hers I have read. Instead of a main character, there is a main setting, Blackbird House. Each chapter is basically a short story about people who lived in and around Blackbird House, for a span of about 200 years. Some of the characters are descendants of previous owners, others not, but they all have some connection to at least one prio...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Hoffman is fond of symbols. If you share this fondness, you may appreciate the magic of Blackbird House, where birds, flowers, and colors become links to the past and omens of the future. If, however, such devices leave you cold

1 like · like · see review

Aug 06, 2012 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars

I liked Blackbird House. It was predictable and very much like Hoffman's Red Garden. The format was the same; the author followed the history of a piece of land with each chapter a separate story of the family that at some point occupies it. Of course each chapter only gives a snapshot making the reader wonder about the rest of the families' stories. The author again combines her obsession with the color red into her book. I'm beginning to wonder if she also has a thing for birds and perhaps eve...more

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Aug 13, 2011 Katherine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This'll teach me to judge an author by an early book. Can't remember the title that I read ages ago, but the writing was much less polished and the story a bit thin. Decided to give Hoffman another try, after reading glowing reviews. I highly recommend this book. It's written in connected-short-story style and I normally don't care for the feeling of wanting more that short stories impart. But these are rich and deep and so very well written. There's a bit of magic or surrealism in some, but onl...more

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May 07, 2010 Margaret rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: general-fiction, historical-fiction, from-library, short-stories, magical-realism, authors-gh

Blackbird House is a collection of interconnected short stories, telling the tales of those who have lived on a particular farm near Cape Cod over more than two hundred years. As always, a thread of magic - a white blackbird, a red pear tree, fire and water - runs through Hoffman's stories, and her prose is lyrical and haunting.

I must admit, though, that I tend not to like short stories, as I like to have more time to get to know characters and places than they generally allow, and probably for...more

1 like · like · see review

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About Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman was born in New York City on March 16, 1952 and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from high school in 1969, she attended Adelphi University, from which she received a BA, and then received a Mirrellees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which she attended in 1973 and 74, receiving an MA in creative writing. She currently lives in Boston and New York...more Alice Hoffman was born in New York City on March 16, 1952 and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from high school in 1969, she attended Adelphi University, from which she received a BA, and then received a Mirrellees Fellowship to the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, which she attended in 1973 and 74, receiving an MA in creative writing. She currently lives in Boston and New York.

Hoffman’s first novel, PROPERTY OF, was written at the age of twenty-one, while she was studying at Stanford, and published shortly thereafter by Farrar Straus and Giroux. She credits her mentor, professor and writer Albert J. Guerard, and his wife, the writer Maclin Bocock Guerard, for helping her to publish her first short story in the magazine Fiction. Editor Ted Solotaroff then contacted her to ask if she had a novel, at which point she quickly began to write what was to become PROPERTY OF, a section of which was published in Mr. Solotaroff’s magazine, American Review.

Since that remarkable beginning, Alice Hoffman has become one of our most distinguished novelists. She has published a total of sixteen novels, two books of short fiction, and eight books for children and young adults. Her novel, HERE ON EARTH, an Oprah Book Club choice, was a modern reworking of some of the themes of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece Wuthering Heights. PRACTICAL MAGIC was made into a Warner film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Her novel, AT RISK, which concerns a family dealing with AIDS, can be found on the reading lists of many universities, colleges and secondary schools. Hoffman’s advance from LOCAL GIRLS, a collection of inter-related fictions about love and loss on Long Island, was donated to help create the Hoffman Breast Center at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. BLACKBIRD HOUSE is a book of stories centering around an old farm on Cape Cod. Hoffman's recent books include AQUARMARINE and INDIGO, novels for pre-teens, and The New York Times bestsellers THE RIVER KING, BLUE DIARY, THE PROBABLE FUTURE, and THE ICE QUEEN. GREEN ANGEL, a post-apocalyptic fairy tale about loss and love, was published by Scholastic and THE FORETELLING, a book about an Amazon girl in the Bronze Age, was published by Little Brown. This fall Little Brown published the teen novel INCANTATION, a story about hidden Jews during the Spanish Inquisition, which Publishers Weekly has chosen as one of the best books of the year. In January 2007, SKYLIGHT CONFESSIONS, a novel about one family’s secret history, was released on the 30th anniversary of the publication of Hoffman’s first novel.

Hoffman’s work has been published in more than twenty translations and more than one hundred foreign editions. Her novels have received mention as notable books of the year by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, Library Journal, and People Magazine. She has also worked as a screenwriter and is the author of the original screenplay “Independence Day,” a film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Diane Weist. Her short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kenyon Review, Redbook, Architectural Digest, Gourmet, Self, and other magazines. Her teen novel AQUAMARINE was recently made into a film starring Emma Roberts.
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“Everything seemed slow, molasses slow, lovesick slow.” — 1 person liked it

“I read Greek myths. I read about far off places, Venice and Paris. I read about men who searched for things they could not find at home, and women who fell in love with the wrong person and waited for the arrival of their beloved for so long that a year was no different from a single day. The same thing was happening to me. Years were passing. I was already a woman, and I still wasn't done reading.” — 1 person liked it

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