I felt for Shelby right from the beginning hoping she could forgive herself, care about herself as she deals with guilt, depression and lack of self worth. I read it in a day, and felt emotionally drained at times but couldn't stop reading. Some have referred to this as a coming of age story but I see it more as a coming to grips story- facing the emotional trauma and depression that came for Shelby after a horrific car accident. While this felt YA at first, it became clear that what happened to Shelby and Helene could happen to anyone and how Shelby deals with it or didn't actually, could happen to anyone. Whether its historical fiction or a contemporary story like this one, her characters are real and relatable and I admire her ability to write across genres. I have read just three of them and it is apparent to me what a great story teller she is. For anyone who’s ever been a hurt teenager, for every mother of a daughter who has lost her way, Faithful is a roadmap.Īlice Hoffman is a prolific writer, having written at least thirty novels.

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. 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. 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.

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.

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

Faithful hoffman