Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman

First published: 1992

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Mystery

Time of work: The 1980’s

Locale: Verity, Florida, and Great Neck, New York

Principal Characters:

• Lucy Rosen, a divorced woman in her late thirties
• Julian Cash, a police detective who trains and owns tracking dogs
• Keith Rosen, Lucy’s son, “the meanest boy in Verity”
• Bethany Lee, Lucy’s neighbor, who is known to the people of Verity as Karen Wright
• The Angel, the ghost of Julian’s cousin Bobby

Form and Content

The central plot of Turtle Moon follows Lucy Rosen’s and Julian Cash’s efforts to solve the murder of Bethany Lee as well as the development of their own relationship. The novel also emphasizes the problems that women face after divorce, especially child custody and single parenting. The story is set in motion when Bethany flees Great Neck with her baby in an effort to protect herself and the child from her former husband. When Bethany is murdered and her baby disappears, Julian is called in to track the baby. Lucy soon learns that her son, Keith, has also disappeared, and Julian starts tracking him, also. Along with tracing the mystery surrounding Bethany’s murder, the novel explores the mystery of human relationships. In the relationships between Bethany and Randy, Lucy and Julian, and Keith and Arrow, Hoffman shows the difficulties of understanding oneself and others.

Hoffman establishes a mysterious, almost supernatural mood in the first chapter, which explains that strange things always happen in Verity in the month of May, including the events covered in the novel. Hoffman also establishes several points of tension in the early chapters, including Bethany’s escape into hiding, Lucy’s worries about Keith, and Julian’s feeling of being haunted by his own past. When Lucy learns that her neighbor, whom she knows as Karen Wright, has been murdered and that both the neighbor’s baby and her own son have disappeared, she fears that Keith will be charged with the murder. She learns that “Karen Wright” was a pseudonym, and she believes that if she can find her neighbor’s true identity, she may locate the real killer and protect her son from suspicion. She knows that “Karen” had her hair done at the same salon she used to go to, so she uses her high school reunion as an excuse to return to Great Neck and try to track down “Karen’s” real identity.

As she and Julian begin working together, each is strongly attracted to the other. As their relationship grows, the narrator reveals more of Julian’s past to explain how Julian’s history of losing those he loves or being left by them has convinced him not to look for bonds with other people. His attraction to Lucy, however, draws him further into the case. He finds the children, leaves them with Miss Giles, and follows Lucy to Great Neck. When Lucy is attacked by Randy Lee, Julian rushes in to protect her. They learn that the man Randy hired to kill Bethany is now tracking the only witness to the murder. They hurry back to Verity, believing that the killer is now after Keith.

When Julian follows Lucy to Great Neck, he leaves Keith in charge of feeding Arrow, and the boy and the dog discover an instant rapport. The boy ignores Julian’s instructions and lets Arrow out of his pen, but with Keith the dog behaves well. Their relationship saves Keith’s life. When the killer tracks Keith into the woods, Arrow attacks him. Julian arrives and sees that the dog has lost control. He shoots Arrow. Although Keith is heartbroken over the loss of his dog, he is also now ready to get on with his life.

Julian, too, has come to terms with himself. He feels a connection with Keith, who reminds him of himself, and he begins to understand his own childhood better. Although he does not expect the relationship to continue, his love affair with Lucy has also helped him face some of his own fears. He finally returns to the Burger King parking lot, where he confronts his past: As a teenager, Julian crashed his car into the gumbo-limbo tree in the parking lot, killing his cousin Bobby. He is finally able to release both his own spirit and that of the Angel, who is Bobby’s ghost.

Over the course of the novel, Lucy comes to understand her son better, in part through her relationship with Julian. She also learns that she can do some things she had not thought she could do, such as confront a murderer. She decides to let Keith return to Great Neck to live with his father, and although she knows she will miss him, she also determines to make the most of her own life, including her relationship with Julian.

The novel includes several subplots that complicate the story line but also help develop the theme of the mystery of human relationships. For example, in several chapters focusing on the Angel, the narrator describes how he falls in love with a teenage girl who comes to sit under the gumbo-limbo tree and sort out her life. His love for her reflects both his own longing for life and his nostalgia for his past, which had included a romance with the girl’s mother. The girl seems to sense this feeling, and she takes on the Angel’s longing for escape as she decides to leave Verity and go to college.

Context

With Turtle Moon, Hoffman joins the growing ranks of American women mystery writers, a field that includes authors such as Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton. Like the works of these novelists, Turtle Moon features a female character who is acting independently to solve a mystery, even though Lucy is not a detective and is, at times, aided by Julian. Although Julian provides protection, it is Lucy who locates the murderer.

Although two of the three central characters in this novel are male, the plot emphasizes three key issues for contemporary women: the problems associated with divorce, violence against women, and the concept that men and women may approach relationships differently.

Although it does not ignore the economic problems associated with divorce that have dominated feminist discussion of the issue, the novel emphasizes the emotional difficulty of single parenting. The novel features several divorced women who are rearing their children alone, and the relationship between Lucy and Keith places this problem at the heart of the novel.

In addition, the novel highlights the problem of violence against women by focusing on Bethany’s murder. Randy Lee uses violence against his wife first in an attempt to claim custody of their child and later as a means of revenge. Later, he also threatens Lucy with violence. Although he is not represented as a “typical” male, his behavior does suggest that men too often use physical force against the women in their lives.

Hoffman also develops the idea that women and men approach relationships differently, a concept that has been examined in the psychological research of Nancy Chodorow, in Deborah Tannen’s writing about how men and women use language, and in a large number of popular psychology books.

Bibliography

“Alice Hoffman.” Current Biography 53 (September, 1992): 14-18. This biography identifies the major developments and influences in Hoffman’s career. It emphasizes her ability to write convincingly and compassionately about Americans of nearly all ages and social strata and to make ordinary life seem magical.

Hunnewell, Susannah. “Florida Is a Character.” The New York Times Book Review, April 26, 1992, 1. This brief profile of Hoffman includes comments on how the landscape of Florida inspired her. She explains that she considers it a character in Turtle Moon.

Telgen, Diane. “Alice Hoffman.” Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series. Vol. 34. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. A useful summary of Hoffman’s career, this reference entry lists her other books and reviews of her work. It also provides a brief biography and a discussion of the central themes of her fiction.