The Probable Future (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
by Alice Hoffman
List Price:
Our Price: $2.49
You Save: $12.51 (83%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Alice HoffmanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-06-01
ISBN: 0345455916
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of The Probable Future (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
Book Review: Story as food for the spirit
Summary: 5 Stars
The Sparrow family have lived in Unity almost since the town has existed, in an old house that's been added on to so many times it's assumed the shape of a wedding cake. The residents of Unity know it as Cake House, and its inhabitants present a mystery the townspeople don't want to solve, or even have much to do with, in spite of the sacrifices the Sparrow women have made to the community through the past two centuries-or perhaps because of them.
Each Sparrow woman develops a unique gift at the age of thirteen, and these gifts aren't necessarily blessings. Elinor Sparrow can tell when someone is lying. Her daughter Jenny can enter others' dreams. Jenny's daughter Stella, in her turn, wakens on her thirteenth birthday with the ability to see how some people will die. Her gift lands Stella's father, Will Avery, in jail when he's wrongly accused of murder after trying to warn the authorities about one of his daughter's premonitions.
This is not a story of how the murder is solved. In fact, that becomes a minor detail. It's a story about a family, a town, and how a much older mystery is brought to rest, of how the Sparrow women first came to live in Unity, the part they've played in its history, and where they're headed. It isn't packed with action, either. The reader enters the life of each character as one would enter the life of a new friend, easing one's way in and beginning to see the world through the other's eyes. The patient reader is rewarded by the full richness of Alice Hoffman's writing. In the world of novelists, Hoffman is the equivalent of the dedicated cook who spends an entire day preparing a meal with love, creating everything from scratch, and possibly by magic. Other cooks open cans and stir up store-bought mixes, some toss everything into the microwave oven. They feed our stomachs, while the gifted cook-and author-feeds our souls.
Summary of The Probable Future (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
The women of the Sparrow family have lived in New England for generations. Each is born in the month of March, and at the age of thirteen, each develops an unusual gift. Elinor can literally smell a lie. Her daughter, Jenny, can see people?s dreams as they?re dreaming them. Granddaughter Stella, newly a teen, has just developed the ability to see how other people will die. Ironically, it is their gifts that have kept Elinor and Jenny apart for the last twenty-five years. But as Stella struggles to cope with her disturbing clairvoyance, the unthinkable happens: One of her premonitions lands her father in jail, wrongly accused of homicide. The ordeal leads Stella to the grandmother she?s never met and to Cake House, the Sparrow ancestral home full of talismans and fraught with history. Now three generations of estranged Sparrow women must come together to turn Stella?s potential to ruin into a potential to redeem.Literature & Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Literature & Fiction Books
Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott
Scribner; Published: 1986-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Killing Groundby JACK HIGGINS
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD; Published: 2007; Hardcover; Book
Saving Fish from Drowningby Amy Tan
4th Estate; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Life Expectancyby Dean Koontz
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Constant Princessby Philippa Gregory
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005; Hardcover; Book
Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harper; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Saharaby Clive Cussler
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2005-03-21; Paperback; Book
Perelandra (Cosmic Trilogy)by C. S. Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.67
Price in other shops:
The Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towersby J. R. R. Tolkien
Harper Collins Publishers; Published: 2001; Paperback; Book
Red Marsby Kim Stanley Robinson
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Similar Books and other products
Seventh Heavenby Alice Hoffman
Berkley Trade; Published: 2003-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.79
Price in other shops:
Green Angelby Alice Hoffman
Scholastic Paperbacks; Published: 2010-02-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.68
Price in other shops:
The Third Angel: A Novelby Alice Hoffman
Broadway; Published: 2009-03-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.15
Price in other shops:
The Foretellingby Alice Hoffman
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Published: 2006-09-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.44
Price in other shops:
The Drowning Seasonby Alice Hoffman
Berkley Trade; Published: 2002-07-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.54
Price in other shops:
Fortune's Daughterby Alice Hoffman
Berkley Trade; Published: 1999-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
Illumination Nightby Alice Hoffman
Berkley Trade; Published: 2002-02-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.49
Price in other shops:
The Red Gardenby Alice Hoffman
Broadway; Published: 2011-08-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Incantationby Alice Hoffman
Little, Brown Young Readers; Published: 2007-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.47
Price in other shops:
Blackbird House: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)by Alice Hoffman
Ballantine Books; Published: 2005-03-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.77
Price in other shops: