Second Nature - by Alice Hoffman (Paperback)

About the Book

"A latter-day Beauty and the Beast (KIRKUS REVIEWS) from the bestselling author of TURTLE MOON. Robin Moore discovers her own free spirit through a stranger she brings home to her perfectly ordered neighborhood. As Robin impulsively draws this beautiful, uncivilized man into her world--meanwhile coping with divorce and a troubled teenage son--she begins to question her wisdom and doubt her own heart.

Book Synopsis

A suburban woman discovers her own wild spirit in this "suspenseful...dark, romantic meditation on what it means to be human"(The New Yorker) from the bestselling author of The Rules of Magic.

Robin Moore, coping with a divorce and a troubled teen-aged son, impulsively rescues a strange man from a psychiatric ward--a beautiful, uncivilized innocent who has been raised in the wilderness and possesses no more sophistication than a child. But when she brings him home to her perfectly ordered neighborhood, the events that follow cause Robin to question her wisdom and doubt her own heart--and, ultimately, to change all of her ideas about love and humanity.

"Her richest and wisest, as well as her boldest, novel to date."--The New York Times Book Review

Review Quotes

Praise for Second Nature

"Hoffman tells a great story. Expect to finish this one in a single, guilty sitting."--Mirabella

"Intelligent and absorbing...a celebration of the simple, unstinting grace of human love."--Chicago Sun-Times

"Generous, magical...Second Nature may be best read at full speed, hurtling down the mountain, as if falling in love."--San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle

"A rich and satisfying concoction...[A] modern fairy tale, full of insights into the battle between instinct and upbringing, desire and conformity."--Booklist

"Iridescent prose, taut narrative suspense, alluring atmosphere, vivid characters."--Boston Sunday Globe

About the Author

Alice Hoffman is the bestselling author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The Invisible Hour, The World That We Knew, Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic (A Reese's Book Club pick), Magic Lessons, The Book of Magic, Here on Earth (An Oprah's Book Club pick), and The Dovekeepers. She lives near Boston.