poignant story,

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