‘It’s one thing to learn magic, but quite another
to be born
with it.’
PREPARE to be totally bewitched as Alice Hoffman, master
storyteller and a literary practitioner of the dark arts, returns with a
stunning prequel to her two extraordinary novels, Practical Magic and Rules of
Magic, which charted the fates of a family of witches in Salem, Massachusetts.
Magic Lessons travels back to 17th century
England to trace a centuries-old curse to its source and lift the veil on Maria
Owens, matriarch of a line of amazing Owens women whose lives and loves have
held thousands of readers enthralled.
In a story woven through with fierce and inspirational
women, the dark history of witchcraft and persecution, cruel betrayal, revenge
and bittersweet redemption, Hoffman takes us on a thrilling adventure from the
green fields of England and the Caribbean island of Dutch Curaçao on to Salem and
New York City.
In 1664, only two decades after the demise of brutal
witch-finder Matthew Hopkins, ‘green witch’ Hannah Owens finds a baby girl
abandoned in a snowy field in rural England. The infant has been wound in a
blanket with her name, Maria, stitched along the border, and a crow keeps a
watchful eye on her.
WORD POWER: Alice Hoffman |
Hannah proves to be a kind and generous soul but, in a time
of suspicion and superstition, there are those who believe that even good folk
can be ‘hidden servants of evil’ who can curse the land and cause children to
die. Healers must do their work discreetly because women are blamed for much of
the world’s troubles.
As quick learner Maria grows, Hannah teaches the girl her
first important lesson… love appears in many guises and can be either a
blessing or a curse so ‘always love someone who will love you back.’
It soon becomes clear that Maria is a ‘bloodline witch’ with magic inside her and Hannah says she must leave England and escape to the new world where ‘a woman wasn’t considered worthless.’ But some years later, when Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem. And it is here that she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. And it’s here that she learns the rules of magic and the lesson that she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Love is the only thing that matters…
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There’s a rich kind of magic in everything that Boston-based Hoffman puts her pen to and Magic Lessons is no exception… some of the darker corners of spells and witchcraft are explored along
with a period of history when fears of the Devil stalked everyday life and a woman’s knowledge and healing gifts were viewed with suspicion and enmity.Written with Hoffman’s exceptional fluency and word power, this beautifully created prequel opens up a window on to the birth of a dynasty of witches whose trials, tribulations and tragedies have captured hearts and fired imaginations. Through the stories of Hannah and Maria, we revisit an age when women had very little power to change their destinies, a time when the darker feminine arts could provide the glue that held them together, but also the weapon that could spell their downfall.
But this is also a story of love – the love between a mother
and daughter, and the love for a man which can so easily lead to danger,
disappointment and obsession. Brimming with spells and remedies, magic and malevolence,
curses and courage, Magic Lessons sees Hoffman at her storytelling best.
(Scribner, hardback, £16.99)
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