Faithful is one of the many Alice Hoffman books that was on my fall TBR. I finished it late last night and was eager to write about it.
Faithful is about a woman named Shelby who grows up on Long Island. When Shelby is a teenager, she and her best friend are involved in an accident in which her best friend suffers catastrophic injuries. The novel follows Shelby’s life as she moves through the world, carrying her guilt about the accident with her each step of the way.
I love Alice Hoffman, but when I read the premise of this novel, I wasn’t sure if it would be one I would enjoy. I thought the issues might be niche and not ones I would relate to.
I ended up absolutely loving Faithful. Shelby was such a complex character and her development throughout the novel was fascinating and inspiring. From the very beginning of the novel, I was rooting for Shelby. If you enjoy a novel with strong character development, Faithful is for you.
The novel was emotional and touching, and despite me fearing the issues would be niche, Shelby’s struggles were actually universal ones. I think that Alice Hoffman is such an incredible writer, and Faithful was full of sentences that made me stop and really contemplate them. I expect the novel to stay with me in a way that not all novels do.
When I was making my fall TBR, I researched which Alice Hoffman books to read are best to read in the fall. Faithful was one of them that came up. It turns out that Faithful is not a fall book in the way that some of Alice Hoffman’s others, like the Practical Magic series or The Witches of Cambridge, are. It’s one that can be read any time of year. However, Alice Hoffman’s writing has a dreamlike quality that does lend itself well to the fall season.
Faithful was a 4.5 star read for me. If you enjoy emotional stories with strong character development, I highly recommend this novel.
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