Alice Hoffman is the bestselling author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The Invisible Hour, The World That We Knew, Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic (A Reese’s Book Club pick), Magic Lessons, The Book of Magic, Here on Earth (An Oprah’s Book Club pick), and The Dovekeepers. She lives near Boston.
Praise for Practical Magic
“A beautiful, moving book about the power of love and the desires
of the heart.”—Denver Post
“Charmingly told, and a good deal of fun.”—The New York Times
Book Review
“One of her most lyrical works...Hoffman is at her best.”—San
Francisco Chronicle Book Review
“Written with a light hand and rhythm...Practical Magic has the
pace of a fairy tale but with the impact of accomplished
fiction.”—People
“A sweet, sweet story that like the best fairy tales says more than
at first it seems to.”—New York Daily News
“[Hoffman] has proved once again her potency as a storyteller,
combining the mundane with the fantastic in a totally engaging
way.”—The Orlando Sentinel
“Hoffman's writing has plenty of power. Her best sentences are like
incantations—they won't let you get away.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Witches and ghosts, spells and sleight-of-hand weave a fanciful
atmosphere in Alice Hoffman's tender comedy about clairvoyance,
spells, and family ties.”—The Miami Herald
“A cosmic romance leavened with just the right touch of pragmatism
and humor.”—Booklist
Her 11th novel is Hoffman's best since Illumination Night. Again a scrim of magic lies gently over her fictional world, in which lilacs bloom riotously in July, a lovesick boy's elbows sizzle on a diner countertop and a toad expectorates a silver ring. The real and the magical worlds are almost seamlessly mixed here, the humor is sharper than in previous books, the characters' eccentricities grow credibly out of their past experiences and the poignant lessons they learn reverberate against the reader's heartstrings, stroked by Hoffman's lyrical prose. The Owens women have been witches for several generations. Orphaned Sally and Gillian Owens, raised by their spinster aunts in a spooky old house, grow up observing desperate women buying love potions in the kitchen and vow never to commit their hearts to passion. Fate, of course, intervenes. Steady, conscientious Sally marries, has two daughters and is widowed early. Impulsive, seductive Gillian goes through three divorces before she arrives at Sally's house with a dead body in her car. Meanwhile, Sally's daughters, replicas of their mother and their aunt, experience their own sexual awakenings. The inevitability of love and the torment and bliss of men and women gripped by desire is Hoffman's theme here, and she plays those variations with a new emphasis on sex scenes‘there's plenty of steamy detail and a pervasive use of the f-word. The dialogue is always on target, particularly the squabbling between siblings, and, as usual, weather plays a portentous role. Readers will relish this magical tale. BOMC main selection. (June)
Praise for Practical Magic
"A beautiful, moving book about the power of love and the desires
of the heart."-Denver Post
"Charmingly told, and a good deal of fun."-The New York Times
Book Review
"One of her most lyrical works...Hoffman is at her best."-San
Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"Written with a light hand and rhythm...Practical Magic has
the pace of a fairy tale but with the impact of accomplished
fiction."-People
"A sweet, sweet story that like the best fairy tales says
more than at first it seems to."-New York Daily News
"[Hoffman] has proved once again her potency as a storyteller,
combining the mundane with the fantastic in a totally engaging
way."-The Orlando Sentinel
"Hoffman's writing has plenty of power. Her best sentences are like
incantations-they won't let you get away."-Kirkus Reviews
"Witches and ghosts, spells and sleight-of-hand weave a fanciful
atmosphere in Alice Hoffman's tender comedy about clairvoyance,
spells, and family ties."-The Miami Herald
"A cosmic romance leavened with just the right touch of pragmatism
and humor."-Booklist
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