By Kerryn Goldsworthy
Faithful
Alice Hoffman
Faithful, by Alice Hoffman.
Scribner $29.99
This is about pain, guilt and redemption. Shelby is a damaged young woman living in her parents' basement. Nearby, her friend Helene lies comatose in her own parents' house after a car accident, with Shelby at the wheel. Shelby slowly manages to move back towards something approximating a normal life. And every now and then, she receives a mysterious anonymous postcard with two words on it: "Feel something" or "Do something" or "Want something". There's plenty here for the reader in the way of evocative detail and emotional subtlety, insofar as that is possible given the dramatic nature of the material. But somehow it's hard to believe that after such an event in the life of a sensitive teenager, the road to redemption will ever quite get her there. This book is a bit too feel-good for its own good.