Mary Hoffman

Mary Hoffman has written around 90 books for children. Amazing Grace, commended for the Kate Greenaway medal, has sold over 1.5 million copies. Its sequel, Grace & Family, was among Junior Education 's Best Books of 1995 and shortlisted for the Sheffield Libraries Book Award 1996. Mary lives in Oxfordshire.

You can read her contributions to The History Girls blog by clicking here.

Mary Hoffman's Ten Things You Didn't Know About Me:

I had my appendix taken out by Enid Blyton's husband! (Fortunately he was a surgeon)

My first book was read in manuscript by Richard Adams, author of Watership Down and he suggested sending it to his publishers, Rex Collings, after a dozen others had turned it down. They took it.
 
I didn't change my surname when I got married.

Amazing Grace and Boundless Grace (which is what Grace and Family is called in the US) were both turned into musical plays and performed in Minneapolis in 1995 and 1998.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a garage mechanic.

I didn't learn to drive until I was over fifty.

My husband is half-Indian. His mother was a Parsee, born in Bangalore.

One of my great-grandfathers was German, another Irish.

I am learning Italian and would love to have a house in Italy.

I never wear or own anything blue.

Photo by Jess Barber (©Jess Barber)

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Featured Books, with extracts by Mary Hoffman

David
Mary Hoffman
Art, politics and romance are brilliantly explored in this enthalling story of how a young man’s face became one of the most famous in the world. Country boy Gabriele arrives in Florence in 1501 with nothing but a connection to...
Featured in: 14+ readers | Ebooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 02/02/2012
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Grace at Christmas
Mary Hoffman
The much loved star of Amazing Grace is back for a touching new story about a very special time of year. Grace loves Christmas. She loves the nativity, the presents and being with her family. But this year everything is...
Featured in: 5+ readers | Bookshelf Essentials
Format: Hardback - Released: 01/09/2011
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David
Mary Hoffman
A Lovereading4kids 'Great Read' you may have missed 2011 selection. Art, politics and romance are brilliantly explored in this enthalling story of how a young man’s face became one of the most famous in the world. Country boy Gabriele arrives in...
Featured in: 14+ readers | Books of the Month | Ebooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 04/07/2011
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Troubadour
Mary Hoffman
Shortlisted for the prestigious Costa Children's Book Award 2009 There’s romance, intrigue, religion and bloodshed all tightly interwoven in this historical thriller. Rather than marrying the old nobleman her father has chosen for her, Elinor determines to run away with Bertran...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 14+ readers | Book Awards | Books of the Month | Ebooks
Format: Paperback - Released: 02/08/2010
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The Great Big Book of Families
Mary Hoffman
A celebration of families and the very many different things they do and the very many different ways they do them. Some families are big, some families are small; some parents work, some parents don’t. Holidays, hobbies, school, clothes and...
Featured in: 3+ readers | 5+ readers
Format: Hardback - Released: 01/04/2010
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Stravaganza: City of Ships
Mary Hoffman
This is a breathtaking time-travel story to a parallel world that’s packed with non-stop action, pirates and drama.  It’s the fifth in the Stravaganza sequence and it will electrify and delight. Intrigue, adventure, magic and excitement are the trademark ingredients...
Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/03/2010
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Troubadour
Mary Hoffman
Shortlisted for the prestigious Costa Children's Book Award 2009 - the winner will be announced in early January.  There’s romance, intrigue, religion and bloodshed all tightly interwoven in this historical thriller. Rather than marrying the old nobleman her father has...
Featured in: 11+ readers | 14+ readers | Book Awards | Ebooks
Format: Hardback - Released: 03/08/2009
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Stravaganza: City of Secrets
Mary Hoffman
A breathtaking and thrilling part contemporary, part historical novel set in England and in Italy that’s full of intrigue, adventure, magic and excitement. The plot is poignant and touching and the characters richly hewed and the vivid and suspenseful time...
Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/07/2008
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Stravaganza: City Of Stars
Mary Hoffman
Beautifully written this is the second in the Stravaganza Sequence. In the dangerous world that the heroine of the story is transported to in the 16th century, her hand is forced and she’s given a terrifying role to play and...
Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/07/2008
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Stravaganza: City Of Masks
Mary Hoffman
When you enter the world of Stravaganza you enter a world of treachery and danger, spine-tingling drama and two worlds and time frames where nothing is quite as it seems. Transported to the 16th century in another world, Lucien is...
Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/07/2008
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Stravaganza: City Of Flowers
Mary Hoffman
Sky is a time traveller (a stravagante) and through his eyes but through two different worlds; his own and a parallel one he and his fellow stravaganti must resolve tensions between rival families which threaten to destroy everything held dear....
Featured in: 11+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 07/07/2008
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Encore Grace
Mary Hoffman
Eight new stories about Grace and her friends: delightfully realistic they capture the details of a small group of friends whose lives revolve around the time at school – including standing up to bullies - and the complications with their...
Featured in: 7+ readers
Format: Paperback - Released: 01/04/2006
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