A review by pixelorchid
Fortune's Daughter by Alice Hoffman

4.0

A compelling story of broken people who find their lives intertwined in unexpected ways. It may not be her best book, but it's still an interesting story with characters who you sometimes want to hate, but over the course of the book, you really start to care about them. In particular if you have ever had to deal with anxiety, this book will really strike a chord. It's also refreshingly realistic and candid about the difficulties that go with pregnancy and birth. Writing-wise, the perspective meanders, but never too far off course. Hoffman's later work is much more honed in this respect, but this book has an emotional rawness that some of her later books are missing.

Spoiler

My biggest complaint with the book is the ending seemed too neat and abrupt. Throughout the whole final act, you keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it never does. Instead everything comes together in a neat little package that you know will fall apart minutes later. Still, it would have been horrible to end a book like this with a bad ending. And with all the hardship that the main characters face, it's nice that they get a moment or two of happiness, even if you can tell it will be short lived.