Turtle Moon

Turtle Moon is the tenth stand-alone novel by American author, Alice Hoffman. Verity, Florida is a town that is home to an unusual number of divorced women, and Lucy Rosen is just one of them. It is also a place where the heat in May causes a sort of madness that makes people do things they may later regret. When Lucy’s neighbour, Karen Wright is found murdered in her apartment, Lucy soon finds herself involved in the investigation: her twelve-year-old son Keith is missing, along with Karen’s fourteen-month-old daughter. Julian Cash, a forbidding policeman with a fierce German shepherd, sees through Lucy’s attempts to protect her son. But it’s mad May and he also finds it difficult to keep his hands off Lucy. This enchanting Hoffman offering has an original plot that somehow includes a high school reunion, a murder, an apparent kidnapping and tracker dogs; it has a cast of wonderful characters including an angel, a remarkable foster mother, and a troubled teen. Hoffman conveys the feel of this unique town with consummate ease: the Florida heat is almost palpable. Jodi Picoult has said that Alice Hoffman is her favourite writer, and it is easy Hoffman’s influence in her work. Just magical.