The Rules of Magic: A Novel (The Practical Magic Series)
An instant New York Times bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick from beloved author Alice Hoffman—the spellbinding prequel to Practical Magic.
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. Yet, the 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 memorable aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.
Alice Hoffman delivers “fairy-tale promise with real-life struggle” (The New York Times Book Review) in a story how the only remedy for being human is to be true to yourself. Thrilling and exquisite, real and fantastical, The Rules of Magic is “irresistible…the kind of book you race through, then pause at the last forty pages, savoring your final moments with the characters” (USA TODAY, 4/4 stars).
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. Yet, the 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 memorable aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.
Alice Hoffman delivers “fairy-tale promise with real-life struggle” (The New York Times Book Review) in a story how the only remedy for being human is to be true to yourself. Thrilling and exquisite, real and fantastical, The Rules of Magic is “irresistible…the kind of book you race through, then pause at the last forty pages, savoring your final moments with the characters” (USA TODAY, 4/4 stars).
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Community Reviews
thenextgoodbook.com
The rules of magic by Alice Hoffman
366 pages
What’s it about?
This novel centers around the Owens family. The Owens have been plagued by a curse since the 1600's. The curse makes falling in love catastrophic for all involved. It is now present day New York City , the 1960's, and the Owens family still must deal with it's past.
What did it make me think about?
This was just a fun book about love, family, and witchcraft.
Should I read it?
This book is a prequel to Alice Hoffman‘s “Practical Magic”. I was concerned that I would not enjoy it because I had not read her previous book. No worries- this book stands on its own. It was not my favorite Alice Hoffman book, but she is such a interesting writer that her stories always pull me in.
Quote-
“ Life is short, it was over in an instant, but some things lasted. Hate and love, kindness and cruelty, all lingered and, in their case, all Had been passed on.”
If you like this try-
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry
The Golem and the Jinni by Helena Wecker
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
The rules of magic by Alice Hoffman
366 pages
What’s it about?
This novel centers around the Owens family. The Owens have been plagued by a curse since the 1600's. The curse makes falling in love catastrophic for all involved. It is now present day New York City , the 1960's, and the Owens family still must deal with it's past.
What did it make me think about?
This was just a fun book about love, family, and witchcraft.
Should I read it?
This book is a prequel to Alice Hoffman‘s “Practical Magic”. I was concerned that I would not enjoy it because I had not read her previous book. No worries- this book stands on its own. It was not my favorite Alice Hoffman book, but she is such a interesting writer that her stories always pull me in.
Quote-
“ Life is short, it was over in an instant, but some things lasted. Hate and love, kindness and cruelty, all lingered and, in their case, all Had been passed on.”
If you like this try-
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry
The Golem and the Jinni by Helena Wecker
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
This is my first Alice Hoffman novel and I am hooked. I saw Practical Magic the movie, am looking foward to reading the book. I love the lyrical writing style.
Alice Hoffman wrote an epic tale of the Aunts and made her reader fall in love with her saga of “Practical Magic.” Granny and Jet were always a pillar in the Owens’ family, but the reader never knew why in the first novel, “Practical Magic.” Hoffman wrote a fabulous story about how each Aunt grew into a strong woman that molded Gillian and Sally. The story of their life was a tragedy, but the reader still walked away with a warm appreciation that the Aunts accepted their fate and lived a happy life.
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