Novels
Introduction
Latest book
Other teenage novels
Introduction
My
first ever published book was a teenage novel – a long
one, set in Italy. I wrote it from 1970-1972 and it was published
by Rex Collings as White Magic in 1975. Nothing has ever
quite compared with the thrill of that first acceptance letter
from
Rex, but the book did nothing to set the world on fire. After
two nice reviews that I remember – Nick Tucker in the New
Statesman and Shirley Toulson in the TES – it
disappeared without trace.
I started writing it when I left university for the second time
in June 1970 and didn’t know what else to do as a career.
I knew I didn’t want to teach or work in an office. So
I went to live with an old lady in Belsize Park, who gave me
a free flatlet in return for walking her cavalier King Charles
spaniel and helping with the garden. I gave one-to-one tuition
in English and Latin and wrote my novel. It took a year and a
half and was then turned down by about a dozen London publishers.
By then I was doing some journalism for the TES myself and had
to interview Richard Adams (who wrote Watership Down). He had
recently won the Carnegie medal and graciously offered to read
the typescript of White Magic. In fact he insisted on my going
indoors to get it after he gave me a lift home. A few days later
he phoned and said, “It’s not the greatest children’s
book I’ve ever read but it’s perfectly publishable.
Why don’t you send it to my publisher, Rex Collings?”
It took many years and many books after that for me to return
to teenage novels. Commissioned work and raising three children
made it difficult to find the sustained concentration for the
larger scale of longer fiction.
I wrote Special Powers on commission from Fiona Kenshole at
Hodder Children’s Books. I loved writing that book and
still think it’s not at all bad; I recently listened to
Helen Lederer reading it on tape and really enjoyed it.
It was just a touch autobiographical. When I was in my last
(I think) year of primary school, we had a visiting student called
Helen Turner. I can’t remember how long she was there – one
term, maybe two? - but she and her family made a huge impression
on me.
They were from New Zealand, there were rather a lot of them and
they had come to England in a Bedford van. While here, they rented
a flat above a shop, where I visited them several times. I had
never had a friend like Helen before – clever, pretty and
nice all at once – and I remember feeling a terrible pang
when my form teacher wrote “I wish I had sixty Helens in
my class.” I had been Mr Edwards’ favourite up to
then and I felt terribly jealous but Helen was too nice to have
negative feelings about.
Emily Grey in Special Powers has a friend like that in Archway
Power, Archie for short. At first, she believes that Archie and
all the Power family are from New Zealand, as they say they are,
but gradually realises that they conform too well to her fantasies
to be anything other than creatures of her own invention.
Special Powers reminded me how much I enjoyed writing longer fiction and was a good preparation for the Stravaganza series, of which three have been published and the fourth is now in progress.
Latest book
 
The Falconer's Knot is my new teenage novel.
Published by Bloomsbury UK and Bloomsbury USA April 2007
Translations coming from Germany (Bertelsmann), Holland (van Goor)
and Denmark (Sesam) in the near future.
Shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize
Selected as one of 40 books on USBBY's list of Outstanding International Books for 2008. (USBBY is the United States Board on Books for Young People)
Nominated for the Malice Domestic Agatha Award for the best novel in the children's/young adult category.
Buy from Amazon.co.uk
The Story
Silvano is sixteen, with the world at his feet. He is handsome, rich
and in love. But one summer's night in 1316, his beloved's husband is
found stabbed - and Silvano's dagger is found in the body. There is
nothing for it but for him to flee his native city of Perugia and
take sanctuary in a house of friars not far from Assisi.
Meanwhile, a beautiful young novice called Chiara has entered the
neighbouring convent. She has no vocation to be a nun but has been
dumped there by her brother because there is not enough money to give
her a good dowry and find her a good husband.
Soon after Silvano's arrival there is another murder, this time at
the friary, and suspicion falls on him again. Life would be bleak if
it were not for his work with Brother Anselmo in the Colour Room,
grinding pigments for the artists at work on the great Basilica of
Saint Francis in Assisi. Chiara is doing similar work next door and
the two young people meet when they take colours to Simone Martini
who is painting a magnificent fresco-cycle on the life of Martin, the
knight who became a saint.
Silvano, Chiara, Anselmo and Simone combine forces to try and
discover the true murderer, as more lives are lost and the friary
becomes a place of fear.
Writing The Falconer's Knot
I loved writing this book! It took a lot of research - on painting
techniques, life in mediaeval Umbria, falconry, Saint Francis and the
lives of nuns and friars - but it was hugely enjoyable. I travelled
to Assisi, Gubbio and Perugia, where the story takes place (although
I invented Giardinetto, where the friary and convent are). And I as
many books and articles and consulted as many experts as I could find.
There are five murders in the book (more or less!) and at least three
love stories. And of course there is Silvano's falcon, Celeste.
But what really drew me to the possibility of creating this mixture
of murder, history and romance, was the chance to write about my
favourite painter, Simone Martini. He lived in Siena but became so
famous in his time that he was invited to paint commissions not only
in Assisi but also in places as far afield as Avignon in France,
where the Pope was based in 1316. He was made a knight a year later.
And I have always loved the names for colours: azurite, terra verde,
orpiment, realgar and the wonderful ultramarine - blue from beyond
the sea.
So, researching and writing The Falconer's Knot was a real pleasure.
I hope it will be one to read it too.
Reviews
Nobleman Silvano is accused of murder and given sanctuary in a friary. Lacking a dowry, beautiful Chiara is placed in a nearby convent by her brother. In this engaging medieval murder mystery, the two young people meet and learn a great deal about life and love.
School Library Journal - USBBY report
Mary Hoffman's medieval murder mystery has all the elements needed to weave a satisfying web of intrigue, tinged with religion and high art. This is a pacy and highly enjoyable read. Each character has his or her role to play and does so with gusto, from the plump and ambitious sheep farmer's widow to the formidable Minister General who turns up at the monastery to get to the bottom of the mortal sin being committed there. Hoffman handles the drama with admirable skill. … there is a freshness of perspective and intricacy of plot that lift the story above the obvious or crass.
Diane Samuels The Guardian 14.7.07
A Story of Friars, Flirtation and Foul Play
Hoffman (the Stravaganza series) once again whisks readers off to Italy , this time in the 14th century, for this highly entertaining mystery-farce hybrid. Readers can pick up clues from the third-person narrative that alternates among the four main characters. ... As the solution surfaces, so do the true loves of the main characters. Even though many readers will guess where the plot is headed, the pleasure is in the journey.
Publishers Weekly
Hoffman set her acclaimed Stravaganza novels in an alternate world that resembled sixteenth-century Italy. In this suspenseful mystery, Hoffman leaves the alternate worlds behind and sets her story directly within the real-world history of fourteenth-century Umbria. ... The publisher has compared this novel to Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose , and there are certainly similarities between the books' Friary settings and central mysteries. Hoffman makes the story her own with an exciting tangle of murder suspects and romantic intrigues. The plot is crowded with characters and the intricate details about pigment preparation and fourteenth-century art and life will slow some readers and fascinate others. Hoffman creates utterly engaging characters and vivid settings, and she skillfully turns up the suspense, wrapping her varied plot threads into a satisfying whole. Readers will race through to the satisfying, fairy-tale conclusion, which includes some empowering twists for the female characters."
Booklist
Other teenage titles
(Please visit the Stravaganza page for more information on that series.)
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