Books & Literature

Book Review: Magic Lessons, by Alice Hoffman

HISTORICAL ROMANCE: The highly anticipated prequel to Alice Hoffman’s bestsellers ‘Practical Magic’ and ‘The Rules of Magic’.

This highly anticipated prequel is sure to be a treat for fans of Alice Hoffman’s ‘Practical Magic’.
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Magic Lessons is the highly anticipated prequel to Alice Hoffman’s bestsellers Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic. While avid readers will undoubtedly have a richer experience with this book. It explains how the Owens family curse came to be and reveals the origins of the house that is the setting of much of the first book. It is not necessary to have read those other books in order to follow the story in Magic Lessons however.

Maria Owens, a witch who floats in water and practices the Unnamed Arts, escapes persecution in England, only to settle in Salem, Massachusetts, in the late 1600s. The book follows her life through infatuation, heartbreak, prejudice and true love. It is in Salem, during the infamous Salem Witch Trials, that she invokes the curse that haunts her family for generations. Alice Hoffman’s thorough research into the Salem Witch Trials is evident by the threads of true historical events that are woven throughout the fictional narrative.

One surprising element to the layout of this book is that it has no chapters. Instead, the book is split into six broad parts, with occasional section breaks marked throughout. If you’re able to read solidly for hours without interruption (the ultimate dream for many of us!) then the lack of chapters is barely noticeable, but for those without that luxury, it can be difficult to choose the best place to stop reading…perhaps that was the plan all along?

Alice Hoffman writes beautiful prose. Her descriptions are vivid and both her major and minor her characters are sympathetic. Despite this, the book is difficult to connect with at first. It is written from a very distant and omniscient perspective, giving a glimpse into everyone’s thoughts and emotions. It is more common in modern fiction to focus around the main characters more. The fact that time moves very quickly in the early pages of the book, sometimes covering several years in only a few sentences, also makes it difficult to connect with the main character initially and to invest emotionally in the story. Those more familiar with Hoffman’s writing style may have less difficulty.

Ultimately, the characters are drawn with complexity and believable emotions and motivations. One of the advantages of the omniscient point of view is the ability to see every character’s motivations, giving the reader the opportunity to sympathise even with the characters who make the poorest choices. Most of these choices revolve around love in all its forms, including both the uplifting and the damaging elements of love and lust. Fans of Hoffman’s work are sure to enjoy this prequel and the backstory it provides for the other books in the series.

Reviewed by Kristin Stefanoff

Distributed by: Simon & Schuster Australia
Released: October 2020
RRP: $32.99

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