Cover Image: Everything My Mother Taught Me

Everything My Mother Taught Me

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★★★★✰ 4 stars

Alice Hoffman is an exceptional writer. This was a short yet striking tale that captivated me from its very opening lines:

“There are those who insist that mothers are born with love for their children and place them before all other things, including their own needs and desires. This was not the case with us.”


As per usual Hoffman showcases the way in which her insightful prose beautifully lends itself to the subjects of her story. The narrator paints an uneasy picture of her relationship with her mother. There is some recurring 'Hoffman imagery' (red shoes, sailors, the sea) which made the story all the more enthralling. I particularly liked the way the landscape mirrors the narrator's feelings.

“The sea was a dangerous enemy, and we were surrounded by it. But I remembered what my father had told me. You could grow to love something so strong and elemental, but you'd have to value the beauty of it more than you did your own life.”


I definitely recommend this to fans of Hoffman. It makes for a quick yet atmospheric read.

“I closed my eyes and went through a list of everything I wished I could thank him for giving me. Patience, loyalty, trust, and hopefully, in time, kindness.”

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This is one of the five books in Amazon's Inheritance series

Can You Feel This? by Julie Orringer
Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman
The Lion's Den by Anthony Marra
Zenith Man by Jennifer Haigh
The Weddings by Alexander Chee

This was my favorite story in this series. The author has such a beautiful way with words

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Life for a woman in early 20th century Massachusetts was not easy. Adaline’s mother engages in affairs and warns her daughter to keep her mouth shut, so the girl does; saying nothing at all. Her mother becomes a house keeper for a lighthouse about the same time a woman in the area disappears. Adaline has the answers to the girls disappearance, but she also has her mother’s words ” Stay silent” . This is just one of five stories in this anthology about keeping secrets and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t think it was up to Hoffman’s usual standard. Maybe the length of the stories kept the character development to short for my taste

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Alice Hoffman was the whole reason I requested the Inheritance series from netgalley. I've been a fan of Hoffman and her wonderful writing. This story did not disappoint.

Adeline's dad dies when she's twelve and her mom accepts a job looking after two lighthouses. Her mom is selfish, unkind and is pretty much looking out for number one. This is the story of all the havoc she causes when she enters the lives of the three families living at the lighthouses and the impact it has on Adeline and the story of Adeline’s redemption. Mothers and daughters are always complicated and it's just so in this powerful story.

This is one of the five books in Amazon's Inheritance series. "A collection of five stories about secrets, unspoken desires, and dangerous revelations between loved ones."

Can You Feel This? by Julie Orringer
Everything My Mother Taught Me by Alice Hoffman
The Lion's Den by Anthony Marra
Zenith Man by Jennifer Haigh
The Weddings by Alexander Chee

Thank you to netgalley and amazon for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

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I received Everything My Mother Taught Me, by Alice Hoffman free, from Net Gallery in exchange for an honest review
Alice Hoffman has been one of our type writers for many years, and readers always anxiously awIt her books,
This story takes place in Massachusetts in the sixties.
It is the story of Adeline who is trying to navigate all the problems of growing up.
Her mother has very few models and is a poor role model for Adeline.
Then, a woman vanishes, who lives in a lighthouse where her mother works.
This is a very literate book that will have you thinking long after the book is finished

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Okay, I'm going to need Alice Hoffman to write a whole novel based on this story because it was FANTASTIC.

It was emotional, raw, and so relatable. Especially for those of us who have toxic, narcissistic mothers.

5 stars because I'm over here dying to read more.

"She would have to do away with herself in order to have a life of her own."

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Alice Hoffman has yet to disappoint me, However, the story was too short. I liked very much what I have read and wished the story would have been longer. I do hope she plans to follow up with more about this short story.

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There are givers in this world and then there are the takers.

In her brief twelve years, Adeline has had a front row seat in observing which category her mother falls into. Nora Ivie would take the last drop of milk from a newborn if it would suit her purpose.

But it is Adeline's father, the dreamer, who holds her heart. He's given up the sea as a sailor for the love of Nora Ivie. A love that is never quite returned even at his early death.

It's 1908 and with few options for a young widow and her daughter, Nora takes a job as a housekeeper on Thacher Island on the tip of Cape Anne. Nora connives her way into the household of the three lighthouse keepers with very dubious results. Adeline must try to adjust to life on the island where she is exposed to others with far higher standards than Nora. Adeline, sadly, has great difficulty in recognizing happiness.

Everything My Mother Taught Me is a snippet of a short story packed to the brim with the uneven avenues of human nature. Alice Hoffman works her magic here in a limited piece, but with profound results. She showcases characters that are as smooth as glass while others wound with their sharpness of intent.

Beautifully written by Hoffman and a personal longing for her to return to Adeline with a hefty novel in the making. Absolutely loved it.

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In early 1900s Massachusetts a woman doesn't have many options when her husband dies, so her and her daughter are shipped off to help the lighthouse keepers and their families. From the minute her father dies, Adeline decides to stop speaking, but you can still make great change without a physical voice.

From the minute they land in the remote area where the lighthouses are Adeline watches her mother make havoc on these families and she is determined to stop her mother from causing extreme damage. I loved watching this young girl make expert moves without a word spoken.

With minimal pages, this book still made an impact. The ending was just spot on! Made me want a sequel so bad!

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This was a beautifully written, emotional short story. I finished reading it in less than 30 minutes. It left me wanting more. I will certainly be reading more from this author. Thanks for the advanced review copy.

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"She would have to do away with herself in order to have a life of her own."

This is a story that packs a lot inside less than 30 pages. Adelaine, a voluntarily mute 12-year-old girl, puts her father's legacy to enact a deserved revenge on her miscreant mother. The story explores a different type of mother/daughter relationship and other relationship dynamics in an isolated locale, where three families run the lighthouses of a rocky island. There is hurt and there is a pain but there is also kindness and the ingeniousness of children who outgrow their temporal age in times of adversity.

The story seemed like the basic outline of a larger plot. It left me wanting for more.

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A lovely story about a mother/daughter relationship. I really enjoyed this and only wish ot was longer.

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More than a tale about mother and daughter, this short story dives into questions of nature vs. nurture. Having grown up with shameless and unethical mother, the main character, 12 year old Adeline, comes to face the reality of her inheritance: an inheritance of genetics. Revenge falls into her hands, and Adeline must then confront her own principles.

The story begins shortly after Adeline's caring father passes away. She is left under the care of her nefarious mother, who continues a pattern of dishonorable behavior. In 1908 her mother moves her to a lighthouse after he passes, where her mother begins working as a housekeeper for the lighthouse keepers. Adeline is treated poorly and wickedly by her mother during this time. Not long after beginning work, her mom begins an affair with one of the lighthouse keepers. Then, Adeline decides to take things into her own hands. But, will extracting revenge make her any better than her mom?

This short story is 28 pages. It is appropriate for the secondary classroom and post-secondary classroom, and would serve a meaningful purpose since it has many literary elements and tools. There is no foul language and there are no vulgar details about the mother's affair. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and setting created by the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

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The year was 1908 when Adeline’s father died. She was 12.
She and her mother, Nora Ivie, left their home in Boston -forty miles away, to live on island in Essex County... at the tip of Cape Ann. Thacher Island - a remote and desolate place - was named after Anthony Thacher where there had been many shipwrecks, in 1635.

What happens on this island....doesn’t stay on the island...

This is my very favorite short story - of ‘ALL GREAT’ stories by very talented authors....
part of the Amazon 5 book Inheritance series ...

We’ve had stories about mothers and daughters since the beginning of time...
Yet...after finishing Alice Hoffman’s story.. [GOD I LOVE ALICE HOFFMAN]....
it was as if all other stories about mum & daughter were shades of gray compared to Alice’s gut wrenching tale...,
I cried at the end.

Adeline is my new favorite young heroine of any story I’ve read this year!!!

A very personal heartfelt story to me!!!!!

Overflowing with 5 stars.

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I adore Alice Hoffman. And though I love her novels, it's her story collections I find myself pulling off the shelf to reread. Like the stories in Blackbird House and The Red Garden, “Everything My Mother Taught Me” takes place in remote New England. With its twin lighthouses, luminous snowdrifts and acres of rocks, Thacher Island in the early 1900s is just as brutally beautiful as the locations in those two books. I can say the the same for the story, which centers on the relationship between 12-year-old Adeline Cutler and her mother Nora. Because of his early death, Adeline's father is mostly absent from the tale but like her vow of silence he exerts a quiet power over the narrative.

As always, Hoffman's writing is gorgeous and multi-layered and more ambiguous than it seems on the surface. The parallel between the sea – “calm as glass, deep-black glass that liked to take a life or two” -- and the events described is flawless. I'm tempted to say more but will keep this brief in keeping with the tale itself.

“Everything My Mother Taught Me” is part of Inheritance, a story collection forthcoming later this year. Though the remaining four pieces are written by other authors, Anthony Marra's “The Lion's Den” is currently available for request on Netgalley. I'm also going to use this opportunity to say I hope Hoffman will write another interlinked story collection set in New England – or to be more specific, to write one set on Thacher Island.

Much thanks to Amazon and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.


Five stars


Pre-order it on Amazon.

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Some stories pack a big punch in a small number of pages, and this is definitely one of them. Everything My Mother Taught Me is sad, hopeful, poignant, and fascinating all in one neat little package. The characters were gorgeously written. I loved the juxtaposition of Adeline’s silence with her role as the narrator. This story hints at so much more. I almost want it to be a full novel, but I love the sense of possibility that I am left with as it is. It is perfectly written to be a slice of these characters lives, without getting bogged down in too much extra. This is a story that will live with me for some time to come.

Many thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

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A brilliant and atmospheric short story from Alice Hoffman, about a young girl who is little more than an encumbrance to her mother, Nora Ivie. Adeline, named after a soap, adores her father, once a sailor, but then a cobbler until he becomes seriously ill. After his death, she chooses to not talk, taking delight in thwarting her mother. Her mother becomes a housekeeper on a lighthouse on the Essex County Thacer Island. Despite expecting to hate it, Adeline grows to love it, getting close to the kind Julia. Her mother proves to be a problematic presence until Adeline decides to takes matters into her own hands. This is a well written tale of a mother-daughter relationship that is compulsive reading and so gripping. My only problem was that it was short! Otherwise, highly recommended! Many thanks to Amazon Original Stories for an ARC.

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I am not a big fan of short stories, but when the author is Alice Hoffman that is just icing on the cake.

A beautifully written, haunting story about a young girl and her uncaring, caustic mother and how that relationship develops.

You will love this!

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