It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
Illumination Night

Illumination Night

Summary

Vonny lives on the island of Martha's Vineyard with her husband Andre and son Simon. Their neighbour Elizabeth, a woman in her seventies, falls from an upstairs window and her granddaughter Jody is summoned to nurse her through her convalescence.

The scene is set for a magical story of love and loneliness, of terror and human frailty, of the mystery and grace of ordinary experience. Alice Hoffman's ability to fuse the domestic and the mythic in a narrative of such gentle yet magnetic force confirms her stature as one of the most gifted of American novelists.

Reviews

  • Alice Hoffman hits bulls-eyes on the incomprehension between the young and the old, of the magic and pain of ordinary life. She is erotic and romantic, funny and clever and humane
    Philip Howard, The Times

About the author

Alice Hoffman

Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more