Featured Reading Guide
Alice Hoffman
A fairy tale for grown ups, which brings together, as only Hoffman can, the fabulous and the real, chaos theory and the irrational everyday moment, in a compelling, haunting and sexy novel, with a sharp edge. The story begins with a little girl who makes a wish one snowy night and ruins her life. She grows up with a splinter of ice in her heart until one day, standing by her kitchen window, she is struck by lightning. Instead of killing her, this cataclysmic event sparks off a new beginning. She seeks out Lazarus Jones, a fellow lightning survivor. He is her opposite, a burning man whose breath…
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Alice Hoffman is the bestselling author of many successful novels and screenplays, including Here on Earth (Oprah Book Club Choice in 1998), Illumination Nights, Turtle Moon, Practical Magic (made into a recent major film) Local Girls and The River King. She lives in Massachusetts.
topAbout the Book
A fairy tale for grown ups, which brings together, as only Hoffman can, the fabulous and the real, chaos theory and the irrational everyday moment, in a compelling, haunting and sexy novel, with a sharp edge. The story begins with a little girl who makes a wish one snowy night and ruins her life. She grows up with a splinter of ice in her heart until one day, standing by her kitchen window, she is struck by lightning. Instead of killing her, this cataclysmic event sparks off a new beginning. She seeks out Lazarus Jones, a fellow lightning survivor. He is her opposite, a burning man whose breath can boil water and whose touch scorches. As an obsessive love affair begins between them, both are forced to hide their most dangerous secrets – what turned one to ice and the other to fire. The Ice Queen is a haunting story of passion, loss, second chances and the secrets that come to define us, if we’re not careful.
topAlice Hoffman interview/review
Interview taken from http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writerdetails.asp
- What were the books that most influenced your life or your career as a writer?
Edward Eager’s brilliant series of suburban magic: Half Magic, Magic by the Lake, Magic or Not, Knight’s Castle, The Time Garden, Seven-Day Magic, The Well Wishers. Anything by Ray Bradbury, Shirley Jackson, J. D. Salinger, Grace Paley. My favourite book is Emily Brontë‘s Wuthering Heights.
- What are your favourite books, and what makes them special to you?
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin
- Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- The Collected Stories by Grace Paley
- We Have always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
- Grimm’s Fairy Tales
- Half Magic by Edward Eager
All are beautiful, essential, single voices. I love them all.
- What are some of your favourite films?
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- Vertigo
- Bell, Book and Candle
- The Philadelphia Story
- Anything with Jimmy Stewart
- The Fifth Element
- Arsenic and Old Lace
- The Matrix
- Anything with Cary Grant
- What types of music do you like? Is there any particular kind you like to listen to when you’re writing?
Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan.
- If you had a book club, what would it be reading and why?
All the books we read as children, moving up in time.
- What are your favourite kinds of books to give – and get – as gifts?
Journals, the smaller the better. Atlases, star charts, photography books.
- Do you have any special writing rituals?
For example, what do you have on your desk when you’re writing? On my desk: Photos of dogs, photos of kids, photos of dogs that have passed on, rocks, stones, roses. The major ritual – close the door.
- Many writers are hardly ‘overnight success’ stories. How long did it take for you to get where you are today? Any rejection-slip horror stories or inspirational anecdotes?
I was helped enormously by the kindness of my mentor, Albert Guerard and my agent of thirty years, Elaine Markson. All luck, all kindness. Including my first rejection note, sent by Esquire when I was sixteen – hand-written, taking me seriously, and telling me to send another story when I grew up. I intend to.
- If you could choose one new writer to be ‘discovered’, who would it be – and why?
Someone who sounds like no one else on earth; someone who doesn’t know what the word irony means, or doesn’t care. Someone who’s fearless.
- What tips or advice do you have for writers still looking to be discovered?
Discover yourself – that’s all there is.
topStarting Points for Discussion
- The ice queen of the title remains unnamed throughout. How does this affect our feelings towards her and does it enhance the portrayal of her personality?
- The Ice Queen evokes the magic of the fairy tale tradition. It is a magical story about transformation and redemption. Look at how Alice Hoffman uses the tradition of the fairy tale to heighten the story.
- Look at nature in the novel. You may wish to explore the fire and ice motifs used throughout, as well as the idea that nature is an independent force beyond our control which changes the pattern of our lives.
- ‘Be careful what you wish for. I knew that for a fact. Wishes…burn your tongue the moment they’re spoken and you can never take them back.’ The ice queen of the title wishes to never see her mother again – her mother dies. She wishes that her grandmothers suffering should end in death and then that she herself be struck by lightning – both wishes come true. Explore the idea of wishes in the novel and the concept of fate.
- Hoffman’s books are centred around people who are strikingly different, who are on the fringe of society, often loners standing back from the crowd. She shows us the feeling of loneliness that lies at the core of being human as well as the deep, dark secrets and pain we wish to hide from others. Discuss the themes of secrets, pain and loneliness in the novel.
Other Books by Alice Hoffman
Blackbird House
From the great May storm in 1778 when John Hadley and his sons slip the British…
Blue Diary
This dark and utterly compelling new novel is about the shadows that lie be…
Here On Earth
March Murray returns to the small town where she grew up for a funeral and …
Illumination Night
Vonny lives on the island of Martha’s Vineyard with her husband Andre and son…
Local Girls
In this series of connected stories young Gretel Samuelson comes of age in a…
Practical Magic
From one of the most captivating storytellers in American fiction comes a tale…
Property Of
The Night of the Wolf. On the Avenue in the bleak area where New York City …
Suggested Further Reading
- Ursula, Under ~ Ingrid Hill
- Indigo ~ Maria Warner
- Midnight’s Children ~ Salman Rushdie
- Nights at the Circus ~ Angela Carter
- Digging to America ~ Anne Tyler