El Camino A Casa = Local Girls

"Alice Hoffman is at her haunting, thought-provoking best with these interconnected stories about a Long Island family the Samuelsons, and the lessons in survival and transformation that life brings to every family. The local girls in question are Gretel Samuelson, her best friend, Jill, her mother: Franny, and Franny's cousin Margot--"four characters who weave in and out of each of the 15 related stories that chronicle the rocky years of Gretel's adolescence. Alice Hoffman's luminous prose combined with Gretel's tart and funny perspective keeps the reader eagerly turning the pages until the very end."