Magic Lessons

Title: Magic Lessons
Author: Alice Hoffman 
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Reviewer: Beryl Eichenberger
This long awaited prequel Practical Magic is a journey into the world of magic and mayhem  and a time when anyone seen as practising the ‘Unnamed Arts’ feared for their lives. What I loved about this novel is the ease with which the author takes the reader
​back into the late 1600s bringing a place and time so instantly to life that you are part of it. Emotional, gut wrenching and brilliantly 

imaginative this is where we learn of the origin of Owen’s family curse - that any man who loves an Owens woman will die. Maria is a foundling abandoned in a snowy England field who is taken in by the solitary Hannah Owens, a woman who recognises that Maria has ‘the gift’, as she herself has. She teaches the child what she herself knows and finds a talented and responsible student. Abandoned by the man she loves Maria invokes the curse that will haunt the Owen’s women for centuries. This is an enchanting book (no pun intended) captivating in its realism and invoking all that spells, familiars (meet Cadin the crow) and healing remedies conjure up. Hoffman’s inspirational writing is a joy and you’ll recognise many of the remedies and sayings that our own mothers invoked when we were children. And they weren’t witches! From a dark England to the island of Curacao and finally on to Salem, Massachusetts and the horrific tortures of the ‘witches of Salem’ the book is an adventure in itself leaving you breathless as Hoffman blends history and magic seamlessly.  And learn this last lesson: ‘Know that love is the only answer.’ A wonderful holiday read. ​​