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Everything My Mother Taught Me

Inheritance collection

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Everything My Mother Taught Me

By: Alice Hoffman
Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
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About this listen

In this haunting short story of loyalty and betrayal, a young woman in early 1900s Massachusetts discovers that in navigating her treacherous coming-of-age, she must find her voice first.

For fatefully observant Adeline, growing up carries an ominous warning from her adulterous mother: don’t say a word. Adeline vows to never speak again. But that’s not her only secret. After her mother takes a housekeeping job at a lighthouse off the tip of Cape Ann, a local woman vanishes. The key to the mystery lies with Adeline, the silent witness. New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic Alice Hoffman crafts a beautiful, heart-wrenching short story.

Alice Hoffman’s Everything My Mother Taught Me is part of Inheritance, a collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, and dangerous revelations between loved ones. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single setting. By yourself, behind closed doors, or shared with someone you trust.

©2019 by Alice Hoffman. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.
Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Coming of Age Family Life Fiction Short Stories Women's Fiction
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Skillful tale-telling in a short story

This short story included a lot of detail from the backstory to the sense of place.

Set in the 1900s, the narrative centres around a young girl and her narcissistic mother. Our heroine has lost her father and finds herself, literally and metaphorically in a strange place. She has become non-verbal through trauma. This begins partially voluntarily, but it seems she was silenced by threats used by her mother to keep her quiet, and grief at the loss of her father. She and her mother move to take up the position of lighthouse cleaner and housemaid in a remote and beautiful stretch of New England's shore. She finds ways to communicate as she grows and develops under the care of a new, gently maternal friend. But soon her friend needs saving. Our young protagonist must find the strength and wit to help weave the escape of the one person she trusts. Now her silence is a shield but soon she must find her voice, and perhaps her own freedom.

If you like historical fiction and short stories this is a good way to pass 50 minutes. Hoffman's story-telling skill means that the plot is rich.

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