Whether or not you have read Practical Magic and Rules of Magic, anyone enjoying magical realism should enjoy Alice Hoffman’s new prequel, Magic Lessons. She now provides a detailed portrait of Maria Owens, who started the history of the Owens family women.

Abandoned with only a crow and a blue blanket to protect her, a newborn is found and taken in by Hannah Owens, a woman who lives far from society. Sought out for her magical powers, Hannah passes along her knowledge to Maria, whose name had been embroidered on her blanket.

Tragedy strikes after Maria’s real mother unexpectedly visits, uprooting Maria from the only place she has ever known and resulting in her second set of lessons, this time from her biological mother, whose powers are hereditary rather than learned, as were Hannah’s. These second lessons are of shorter duration than the first, and while still a young child, Maria finds herself put on a boat for Curaçao with only her crow to accompany her and five years ahead as an indentured servant.

As Maria continues to learn, she receives lessons in love, some intentionally taught, some learned from observation. Yet she is warned that spells casts on others to overcome love problems will not work well on herself. Independent, courageous, and passionate Maria has many adventures and lessons still ahead.

Anyone familiar with Alice Hoffman knows that although the supernatural plays a prominent role in her work, she focuses more on the characters and on the human heart than on the magic. Even in this latest book, filled with magic lessons as it is, that holds true.

My thanks to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster, and Alice Hoffman for the advance reader copy.

And now we go back to the beginning. Hannah Owens lives a quiet life in the woods of rural England. In the 1600’s it is of the utmost importance that she keep her powers and gifts of healing an absolute secret - her life depends on it. Witchcraft is a crime and it doesn’t take much to hang a woman with no husband and an inexplicable ability in the Unnamed Arts. Hannah finds an abandoned baby in the woods. Maria is special and Hannah raises her with love and all the lessons she will need to survive in this world. Some years later Maria is sent on a ship to the Caribbean and she falls in love. Following this stranger to Salem, Massachusetts she finds herself in the heart of a world that has no tolerance for beauty, love and most certainly not for witchcraft. This magical series began with modern day Practical Magic (also a fabulous movie!), then came The Rules of Magic and now we finally learn how the Owens family began. Highly recommend this bewitching series that will set your imagination on fire!

I loved Hoffman's masterpiece 'Practical Magic', so much that I have read the book and watched the movie dozens of times over. The story of the Owens Women and their ability to create a tribe (or coven) of found family, magical knowledge and the ability to be strong in the face of hardship makes that book an absolute treasure. I truly jumped at the chance to get an advanced copy of its prequel.

The book is about the matriarch of the Owen's women, Maria Owens, and the origins of a family curse. Any man who loves an Owen's woman will have tragedy befall them. This was a main theme in Practical Magic and I was more than ready to see what circumstances caused it.

At the beginning, we find Maria as a newborn baby left in a field near the home of Hannah Owens. Hannah is an exiled woman in Essex, England who went into the woods to practice the Nameless Art and help women of all kinds with everything from health to their love lives. There's never a dull moment, Hannah seems to be constantly at work. Maria grows up learning from Hannah. How to make potions for fevers, cramps, rashes and toothaches. The ones she pays special attention to are the spells regarding matters of the heart. Some of the fun of this book is learning all of the natural remedies that exist in the world for many common ailments.

It is when she is around 9 years old that all hell breaks loose and events begin to unfold that brick by brick, wall up Maria's heart against men and love. We span her life well into her thirties. We see her overcome horrible thing after thing and the many trials of her family and friends.

I'm going to be honest, the first half of this book is bleak, sad, challenging, and difficult. There is no sugar coating the awful things that happen to Maria and the other characters of the book. That is before the Salem Witch Trials even come into the story.

I would summarize my review as this: as heartwarming as Practical Magic is, this book is equally disturbing. It's definitely a beautifully written book. the historical fiction elements are spot on and it is an atmospheric read. Many people will definitely want to check it out for those elements.

I wish I had loved it more, but love is a notion many times condemned throughout this book, so it isn't much of a surprise to find that I had to harden my heart a bit to get to the end

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book feels like drinking a warm cup of milk under a cozy blanket while sitting in front of a warm fire... 😍🤭🥛. Do people drink warm milk? Regardless, that's what this book feels like: rich & creamy, goes down smooth, and warms you from the inside 🥰.

I love everything Alice Hoffman writes. Practical Magic, the movie, was part of my childhood; The Rules of Magic became a favorite book when I read it a few years ago; this prequel (prequel-prequel?), Magic Lessons, is no different. I was enchanted the entire time.

For anyone who doesn't know, these books follow the Owens women across generations, beginning with Maria Owens and the curse she cast, declaring that all men who fall in love with an Owens girl will suffer a terrible fate. Before this most recent book (Pub date: Oct 6, 2020) Maria was a distant ancestor.

We start the series with Gillian and Sally in Practical Magic (played by Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock in the 📽), who, after their parents' accidental death, live with their eccentric aunts in Massachusetts. The Rules of Magic (aka: my 💗) goes back in time to the early lives of the aunts (Franny and Jet) + their brother Vincent. Magic and heartbreak ensues 🌌. And now with this 3rd installment, we get to follow Maria from childhood, to the time of the curse, her daughters youth, the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and beyond. When the familiar Owens' house was built I felt like I was returning home 🌿.

I have no words for how much I love these books 🥰. Hoffman writes such beautiful characters and sets them in their historical context. I also adore the Grimoire entries!! There is so much to learn from her books ❤.

Okay, no more spoilers from my witchy recommendation stack!

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Alice Hoffman knows how to weave a tale! I would call this novel the pre-prequel to Practical Magic, as the prequel would be The Rules of Magic, the story of the aunts that featured in Practical Magic. The story of Maria Owens and the start of the Owens magic is revealed in this wonderful novel. I had great difficulty putting this book down and coming back to the real world. The Owens Curse (the bane of the first novel) comes to fruition in this story and the reader can certainly understand Maria's frustration when she cast this curse. However, although love certainly gives Maria Owens, and her daughter Faith, much aggravation, they come to find it is the only answer.
Thank you to NetGalley for this e-ARC. It did not disappoint! :)

This was a fine continuation to the story of the Owens family and how they came about from dating back to the 1600s. It gave us a background on the ladies who started the dynasty of special witches whose special powers passed down from daughter to daughter. Although a bit slow at the onset, this story eventually propels the reader into the world in which the ladies we read about in the previous two books in the series, inherited their legacy.

Maria Owens was the start of the family dynasty, and we follow her through Curacao, where she went after the death of her caregiver Hannah Owens, the Salem witch trials and her meeting and having a daughter with John Hawthorne, to the time where Maria's heart is broken for he left her and moved on to Salem where in time, he becomes the leader of a group that persecutes and puts to death those suspected of witchcraft.

When Maria arrives in Salem with her magically gifted daughter, Faith, the curse to never allow love to enter the lives of the Owens women, gets its start.

However on the voyage to Salem, Maria meets and is drawn to Samuel, son of the ship's cabin. Samuel is enamored with Maria, but his affection though returned by Maria, is turned away, as she is on a mission to find the father of her child. She must not fall in love for she knows that her loved one will be cursed.

Both Maria and Faith will find that they are challenged both physically and emotionally and that vow to never love a man will be tested to its fullest.

Told with the wonderful background of the times. Ms Hoffman once again creates a story of magic, of darkness, and one where the realization of love is the final answer.

Thank you to Alice Hoffman, Scribner Publishing, and NetGalley for a copy of this story due out on October 6, 2020.

This book delves into the origin of the Owen's curse.. This is my first novel by Alice Hoffman. Wow, what a roller coaster of emotions. She did a brilliant job fleshing out the characters. I enjoyed watching them develop and seeing them go through their journey. I'll have to revisit the other books for this series!

This book was fascinating!! I literally couldn’t put it down! I was unsure of it when I first started reading it, but I was hooked from the first page! It was epic!

Oh no, I am just not into this, it felt like such a let down. I am hoping to revisit this book again though.

Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

416 Pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: October 6, 2020

General Fiction (Adult), Magic, Witches, Family Curses, Witch Trials, 1600s

Hannah Owens found a baby in a snowy field. The blanket was embroidered with the baby’s name, Maria. A black crow was sitting on the basket cawing. Hannah knew this baby was special. She raised her as her own peacefully in the cottage in the woods helping women from town. One day a red-headed woman came looking for help but she brought trouble with her.

As a grown woman, Maria takes her baby, Faith with her to Salem to find the man she loves. When she finds him, he is not the man she thought he was. She settles down and buys a small cottage so she can raise her daughter the same way Hannah raised her.

This is the prelude to Practical Magic and Rules of Magic. The story is written in third person and is well paced. The characters are very developed. I really enjoyed reading this book. Ms. Hoffman is a talented storyteller. If you enjoy books about magic or have read her previous books I mentioned, you will like this book.

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman is an extraordinary novel about life in the 1600s . This novel is about so many different topics all revolving around a woman named Maria, who professes to be a witch and life in Salem Massachusetts. Maria lives a very sad and yet joyous life and there are so many life lessons that can be gleaned by contemplating Maria’s life and her reaction to both sad and happy moments. I loved this novel and I am sure you will as well! I would like to thank netgalley, Alice Hoffman and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman is a very well written book. The story line is so interesting and keeps you hooked and reading. I highly recommend this book!

I read <i>Rules of Magic</i> earlier this summer, and was so excited to see that the origin story of the Owens family was being published this fall! <i>Magic Lessons</i> follows Maria Owens, the powerful witch who leaves England and begins the Owens' family lineage in the American colonies. It was so lovely to learn more about the history of the Owens family, who I have come to love. This story was unexpected in its breadth of settings, as we follow Maria from dreary England to vibrant, tropical Curaçao, then to New England (Boston, Salem and New York City).

But even as Hoffman takes us to new settings and adventures, her writing remains the comforting balm that I remember it to be from <i>Rules of Magic</i>. Her stories are kind, hopeful, and show the strength of a line of women that trouble won't stay away from. While some could write off Hoffman's Practical Magic series as simply a cozy, commercial read, I find so much power and joy in her storytelling. She has a talent for wrapping you up completely in a setting and character, and it is absolutely spellbinding. Her ability for creating an atmospheric, beautiful story should not be overlooked, even if one might not deem it "serious" literature.

One thing that always shocks me about these books is how fast the Owens children grow up. Their magical abilities help them learn and mature faster, which I understand, but it is always slightly disconcerting to read about 14/15yr old girls having children by much older men (though I think the time period had much to do with that occurrence in this book). It is so interesting to read about these young women who are really clever and smart at maybe 10 or 11, yet still make the rash decisions of children. The melding between their intellect and inexperience is really fascinating to read about, and makes it even more satisfying to see them grow up over the course of the book.

This is another successful entry into the Practical Magic series, and now I might have to actually read Practical Magic! I've held off, as I wanted to read the prequels first, but now that I have my Owns family history down, it's time to read the seminal work that inspired it all!

I have loved the story of 'Practical Magic' for years, long before I read the book, a scant 2 years ago at the urging of my friend, Kalie; it was darker than the movie, drier, but I loved it in a different way than I loved the movie.
Still, Maria Owens, the long-dead matriarch of the Owens family, a woman so brokenhearted that she cursed her own family for generations to come to lose the men who dared love them, always had my interest and my curiosity. She was also a life-lesson for me; be careful what you wish for when you're angry; you will send out ripples that kick back for generations to come. Yikes.
The chance to see what molded Maria into who she was wasn't something I could pass up; darker and more austere than the other Alice Hoffman "Magic" novels I have read, I can only say that I got all the answers and the ambiance and the Maria information that I showed up for.
Perfect for spooky season and lovers of the Owens family women.

"Are we ruined?" Samuel asked. "No," Maria said. "We're just alive."

It may still be 600 degrees outside here in Florida, but Magic Lessons was just what I needed to get into the spirit of fall! If you've read Practical Magic and/or Rules of Magic, you'll definitely want to get your hands on the prequel which is available on October 6.

Maria Owens is abandoned in a snowy field as a baby when Hannah Owens finds her and raises her as her own. Hannah teaches Maria the Nameless Art and Maria soon finds herself surpassing her adoptive mother in skill, with a specialty in all things related to love. After Hannah's death, Maria is sent to the West Indies where she finds herself a single teenage mom after a brief encounter with John Hathorne. She follows him to Salem, Massachusetts where the hysteria of witchcraft trials is starting to heat up.

I won't share more to avoid spoilers, but this prequel is so good. Alice Hoffman's prose is always beautiful and Magic Lessons is no exception. My favorite thing about Practical Magic and Rules of Magic were the strong female protagonists and it's such a pleasure to read how Maria's life and actions set the foundation for all those generations of women to come.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the early copy in exchange for a review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for a copy of Magic Lessons in exchange for my honest review.


I'll be honest I didn't like The Rules of Magic, the second book in the Practical Magic series. Knowing I liked Practical Magic (and the film adaptation too) I decided to give Magic Lessons a try and I'm SO glad I did. Magic Lessons follows Maria Owens in the 1600s and the start of the magic lore in the Owens family. It shows Maria's education in the Unnamed Arts and how she uses it to help people she encounters in her life. Although the title is about magic the story reads more historical fiction. The magic in the story feels more like a secondary character to the other action in the book. It's a story about love, betrayal, finding one's identity and forgiveness. If you haven't read any of the Practical Magic books you can easily reads this one. If you've read the others and enjoyed them, or even enjoyed one of the two, I say give this one a shot. Honestly it's my favorite book out of the series.

Witchcraft is an old art most often practiced by women. There can be healing magic and black magic. Maria was born to a witch but was left in a basket at the home of another witch who then raised her and taught her the art of healing, using herbs. As a young woman she is sold into servitude in The Caribbean. Eventually she works her way to freedom and goes to Salem Massachusetts.

Alice Hoffman has written a fascinating book about love, family, witchcraft in the 1600s.

This was too drawn out with a lot of telling and no showing. I loved Rules of Magic but this book is missing the charm. I think the author should have quit with Rules of Magic.

Sad to say this is a DNF for me. Others have loved it, but it’s not for me.

Magic Lessons
By Alice Hoffman
September 13, 2020

When offered an advanced reader copy of this novel (thank you Net Galley and Simon and Schuster!), I was uncertain. I assumed the fantasy subject matter was not my cup of tea. But that’s what happens with books. They give us a glimpse into worlds we know nothing about - and may find enchanting.

Alice Hoffman, the award-winning and beloved author of thirty books, captivated me with her beautiful words and scenes. The story held me tight, and I couldn’t let go.

In the late 1600’s, Maria Owens travels from London to Massachusetts to New York. Criticized for her independence, thirst for knowledge, and healing remedies, Maria is accused of witchcraft in Salem, MA. In a time when single mothers and intelligent women were dismissed, Maria confronts love and a strained relationship with her troubled daughter head on.

For some readers, the book may be a little heavy on magic and spells and herbal concoctions. I’m not sure I’m completely sold on this type of fantastical literature, but I loved Maria’s philosophy. What you give to the world - both good and bad - comes back to you.

Review of Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
.
Hannah Owens finds a baby in a field, raises her as her own, and teaches her about the Nameless Art. But Hannah soon learns that Maria has magic of her own and it’s in her blood. After fleeing from England and being sold into indentured servitude, Maria meets John Hathorne and falls in love. She follows him to Salem, MA but gets her heart broken. Tried for witchcraft, Maria curses all men who fall in love with an Owens girl. And so starts the curse that has plagued every Owens girl for generations. Magic Lessons brings us back to the beginning and where it all started as the prequel to Practical Magic.

If you‘re a sucker for the cult-classic, Practical Magic, then you need to read this. Detailing the background of the Owens family and told between three generations of women, Magic Lessons is a well developed story with well developed characters. It’s a book that‘s woven with strong female leads, historical references, and imagery that‘s detailed and descriptive. Persecution for practicing magic and witchcraft is deeply rooted in 17th century Salem, Massachusetts and Hoffman brings readers back. This is a fascinating read about love, loss, good and evil, and you won’t want to miss it!

Thank you @simonandschuster and @netgalley {#partner} for gifting me with an advanced readers copy in exchange for an independent and honest review! This book is expected to be on shelves just in time for Halloween, 10/06/2020 so go preorder now!