Published: October 10th 2017 by Simon & Schuster

Review Copy Provided By: Simon & Schuster Canada

Find your magic

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.

The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.

I haven’t read Practical Magic (I intend to now) so don’t let the fact this story is a prequel deter you from reading.

I loved so much about this book . It is not just a story of spells and potions and special powers. It is a story of family, of love, a story that reflects so much about the times in the 1960’s.

There IS real magic in this story, though. It was the spell that Alice Hoffman’s writing cast over me that made me accept who these characters are in spite of not really believing in witches. Not just accepting them but caring about them and hoping that they will make it through their tragedies, their fate and wishing for them to be happy.

Family is everything and the blood of witches runs deeply through it. Each person is so boldly crafted that their emotional pain reaches right to your heart; you cheer their will to be themselves and fight against the curse, even as the world around them tries repeatedly to rip them apart. It’s moving and beautiful, but never sentimental. Their magic flows through and around it all, a blend of old world herbal remedies and bright powers mixed together so well that you never question its reality, rather you wish for it. I couldn’t help but be drawn into this story of these three siblings,

 As I said I have not read Practical Magic, but I will definitely read it because I don’t want to let go of this family. Alice Hoffman is a treasure, such a versatile and prolific author, writing of past and present, such very different stories in so many novels.