The Probable Future (Alice Hoffman)

I enjoyed The Probable Future very much, more so than some of Alice Hoffman's novels. It has that air of ethereal dream-like magic which she does so well.

Three generations of women in the Sparrow family all have different gifts, which come to them on their thirteenth birthday. One can smell when people lie, another visits people in their dreams, and worries about what gift will arrive on her daughter Stella's thirteenth birthday. As usually happens in Hoffman's novels, things tie up fairly neatly at the end - we see characters' redemptions and healing love affairs coming a long way off. But this doesn't detract from the pleasant lyrical story Hoffman weaves. I really liked this - 4 out of 5.