Description
Book SynopsisThe extraordinary and enchanting novel tracing a centuries-old curse back to its beginning from the author of PRACTICAL MAGIC and THE DOVEKEEPERS For centuries, the women of the Owens family have been cursed: any man who loves an Owens woman will die.
It begins with a baby abandoned in a snowy English field in the 1600s. Gentle Hannah Owens takes the baby in, and as the child grows, Hannah teaches little Maria about the 'Unnamed Arts'. Maria has a gift for them – a gift that may well prove her undoing.
When Maria is abandoned by the man she loves, she invokes the curse that will haunt her family for centuries. Because magic has rules, and they must be obeyed.
PRAISE for ALICE HOFFMAN ‘Beautiful, harrowing, a major contribution to twenty-first century literature’
Toni Morrison ‘I am still reeling from
The Dovekeepers – from the history Alice
Trade Review'Enticing... conjures up spells, herbal lore and romance in harsh, historical times'
Daily Mail 'We first met the Owens in the brilliant novel
Practical Magic, then we discovered the tragedy of the siblings in
Rules of Magic. Now, we learn how it all began…'
Bella 'A vivid and evocative tale – prepare to be spellbound’
Woman 'Storytelling is in Hoffman’s bones, and the skill with which she dispenses information and compresses time, so that a year passes in a sentence, so that a tragedy witnessed becomes the propeller for a hundred-page subplot, is (forgive me) bewitching'
New York Times Book Review 'Vivid and enchanting, with a can’t-miss-it foray into the Salem Witch Trials,
Magic Lessons is another sublime entry in an arresting series'
Esquire 'Hoffman writes deftly, and often beautifully, about nature, and she can plot like, well, a witch, casting a spell on her reader'
Boston Globe 'A gorgeous new novel you won't want to miss'
Bustle 'In Hoffman’s luminous prose, all characters, even the villains, are not only vividly, but also compassionately, rendered... Hoffman adeptly highlights that how one uses a talent, selflessly or selfishly, has a sweeping impact on many lives'
Booklist
