Later, as she begins to heal and see the possibilities of living a better life, “she wonders if it’s possible that when she rescued them, they rescued her as well.” During this lonely time, she receives anonymous postcards in the mail that say such things as “Believe something,” “Do something” and “Rescue something.” The latter inspires her, fittingly, to rescue abused animals. “Faithful” follows Shelby into her 20s as she begins to heal and forgive herself even as she fights moving forward. A high school friend persuades her to move with him to New York, but their relationship, like everything else in Shelby’s life, is defined by the accident. She starts by shaving her head, hiding in her parents’ basement, smoking pot and then having a nervous breakdown. Shelby’s been punishing herself ever since and truly believes she can never punish herself enough. She received minor injuries her best friend Helene remains in a coma. Shelby’s penance-centric life dominates “Faithful.” She’s been struggling under the weight of the tragic consequences of a car accident in which she was the teenage driver. You carry it all with you.” “Faithful,” a novel about remorse and redemption, traces the guilt-ridden early chapters in Shelby’s life, the ones that have the ability to make or break her. “You can’t just hop out of the mess you’re in and into another story. “I think of life as a novel,” says Shelby Richmond, the tragic heroine of Alice Hoffman’s newest work of fiction. Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting. Such advertising cookies may enable such third-party vendors to serve ads to our readers.

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Faithful by alice hoffman summary