Alice Hoffman really knows how to make her readers feel the emotions of her characters. I honestly didn’t know what to expect with this story. I didn’t read any other reviews beforehand and barely skimmed the synopsis. I was pleasantly surprised when the second half of the book began. We follow Mia as she grows up in a cult-like community with her mother. She learns the world through books she secretly checks out from the library in town. No spoilers, but the adventures she has and the conclusion to the story made me sob. This was a beautiful and magical novel. 5 stars from me. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC copy of this book.

The author, Alice Hoffman, is what enticed me to read this book. I have always enjoyed her writing. I was also intrigued to learn that there was a connection to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter.
Time travel and suspense made this an interesting story. Hoffman made a point of incorporating a women’s right to choose and was nicely able to weave the two different worlds, centuries apart, into a very good story.

The Invisible Hour is the latest magical, lyrical novel by consummate storyteller, Alice Hoffman. It is a story of the powerful connection between mothers and daughters, between friends and lovers, as well as an homage to the rich history of the literature of New England. It is also a quiet yet powerful indictment of men, past and present, who wield their power to control women and suffocate their spirits.
In Boston, teenager Ivy, pregnant and rejected by her parents, finds her way to a cult-like Community in western Massachusetts, run by a charismatic man, Joel. He is entranced by her beauty and aware of her vulnerability, and he weds her immediately. Fifteen years later, Ivy and the other women of the commune are submissive and broken by his dictatorial rules. Ivy’s daughter, Mia, chafes at the oppression and dreams of a freer life, dreams that are fed by her stolen moments with books in the local library, which, it is said, “is a place with a thousand keys to a thousand doors.” It is there that Mia discovers Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, “The Scarlet Letter,” inscribed to Mia.
From that moment, this tale unwinds in a magical way, with one foot firmly planted in the present and the other in Hawthorne’s Salem of 1837. A wonderful sense of place and history envelops the reader, with impactful quotes from literary giants like Thoreau, Emerson, Hawthorne and Melville. The beautiful prose adds an ethereal quality to the descriptions of places and seasons, with Hoffman’s imagery and allusions to magic and the powers of women beautifully represented.
The preface is a poignant letter to the reader explaining the author’s deep feelings for her subject matter, rooted in her own childhood and her single working mother, who gave her the gift of independence, an upbringing without restricting rules, and a love of books.
For women of all ages and book lovers everywhere, immerse yourself in this magical story and savor every beautiful moment.

My deepest thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

If you could travel back in time to any era in history, when would it be?

Mia, a young girl raised within the confines of a dangerous and radical cult, is saved by the power of books. She escapes her harsh reality by becoming lost within the pages— a most grievous sin for members of “The Community.” On the day that Mia is certain she can no longer go on, she opens the pages of The Scarlet Letter, a book written by Nathanial Hawthorne two hundred years prior. Through the mysterious parallels, Mia finds herself a piece of hope to cling to. Thus starts a love affair that spans a lifetime, in this world and in a world two hundred years past.

This book felt like two books in one. The first half— the tale of Mia and her mother Ivy— was quick and compelling. Unwed and pregnant in a time much different from today, Ivy is taken in by Joel, the leader of The Community. However, things quickly change and I found myself speeding through the pages to see what would happen and whether Ivy and Mia would ever escape.

The second half was quite a different experience. I didn’t realize there was a magical realism/time travel aspect to this book and it was a pleasant turn of events. By 65% I was digging out my old copy of The Scarlet Letter to read, as learning about Nathaniel Hawthorne was truly fascinating.

So here’s where this one lost a few stars for me: this is a book with a LOT of telling rather than showing. There is limited dialogue, as the author prefers summarizing conversations rather than writing them out. Reading about Nathaniel’s life was akin to reading from a textbook— which is not to say it was unpleasant, it just didn’t flow well within the context of the novel. On one hand, the author seems to fly through days, months, years within just a few pages, which keeps the action moving, but on the other hand, it lacks depth, particularly when developing a romance.

This book is a true story— it tells a tale, without relying on many of the modern literary devices we may be accustomed to. In that way, it almost felt nostalgic, as if written from another time itself. At its core, it’s an ode to women and a love letter to readers, and I won’t soon forget it.

Thank you to Atria Books, Alice Hoffman, and NetGalley for providing my advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5/5

The first half of this book is totally gripping and immersive, and the writing throughout is gorgeous, but once the plot veers into timeslip elements, it loses its power. I wish I'd loved this book more than I did -- so much about it is wonderful, including the messaging about books having the power to change lives.

Another brilliant, magical novel from Alice Hoffman. Pure delight and Ms. Hoffman has such a gift for words and story. This novel is an ode to the power of those words and the way we can be saved through books.
Mia Jacob is raised inside an oppressive cult, called the Community. After her mother is killed in a terrible accident, and Mia refuses to give up her grief, she plans to join her mother in the afterlife. However, she discovers a 1st edition copy of The Scarlet Letter, which seems to tell her mother, Ivy's, story to a tee. The inscription inside the book also seems to hint at something more. Mia learns through a journey of time that love is stronger than any chains that bind you.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for this e-arc.*

A magical look at The Scarlet Letter, self empowerment, and the choices women have had to make. I loved Mia's story and it's is woven with elements that are currently in the forefront. Finding freedom, living the life you want and keeping banned books available to everyone.

Alice Hoffman’s books never disappoint. The invisible hour has cults, magic , love and even some time travel. This was truly a story about how your love of books and reading are really magical in some cases they can even save you.

This novel tells the story of Mia, who escapes from a cult as well as suicidal thoughts with the help of the book The Scarlet Letter. She becomes obsessed with Nathaniel Hawthorne throughout her life, even as the leader of the cult continues to haunt her. On the one hand, the writing in this novel was beautiful. On the other hand, the time travel aspect was too jarring and simplistic for the story being told.

“In a place where books were banned there could be no personal freedom, no hope, and no dreams for the future.”

Equal parts cult novel and historical fantasy, The Invisible Hour is fully a love letter to the written word. We see how people are taken in by the charisma of a corrupt leader, as well as the difficulty in leaving. We experience the town’s suspicions, as well as their helplessness to shut down “the community.” We see a mother’s love, a daughter’s rebellion, and a fight for survival. Throughout the story, books figuratively, and then literally, save lives.

There is pain and sorrow and love, and as happens often in Hoffman’s novels, there is a sense of whimsy in its magical realism. I loved the flawed characters and the mysterious magical system whose ins and outs are not spelled out for us. I enjoyed the historical aspects, as well as the connection to how relevant these still are to our lives today. And most of all, I cherished the importance of literature to the story and its characters.

Thank you so much to Alice Hoffman, Netgalley, and Atria for the advanced readers copy!

Special thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I really loved this book. We all know Alice Hoffman is a very gifted writer.

The running theme is about how powerful books are but the story is about a woman and her daughter getting involved with a cult.. The daughter grows up and realizes her life is not as it should be. At this cult books are forbidden, as is communication with the outside world.

However, .ia, the daughter finds her way into the library in town and falls in love with The Scarlet Letter. The similarities to that classic book and this one cannot be ignored.

I've been a fan of Alice Hoffman. Some of her books are not my favorite but this is not one of them. 4 stars. Highly recommended..

This was a tale of two books. The beginning was fantastic, and I was super into it and intrigued. The cult, the books, the story... all of it was mesmerizing. But then the second half of the book happened and it lost me. It was such an abrupt shift away from what was working. It was disappointing. I also thought the setting (supposedly Massachusetts, where I'm from) was not very Massachusetts-ish. There was none of the charm or character or real facts that would make it feel like New England.

Sorry to say that I didn't love this one! But I think it will have an audience, and Alice Hoffman will always be an author I'll read. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

I absolutely adored this book. Alice Hoffman is one of the most gifted writers being published today, and she is the absolute gold standard for magical realism.

This was an excellent mix of a story of a woman and her daughter who get involved in a cult, and how the daughter grows to realize that her life is not what it should or could be. And somehow, Hoffman manages to turn it into a book about how The Scarlet Letter was inspired. It's just another example of her ability to connect dots between the unlikeliest of subjects and come out at the end with an incredibly unique and magical novel. Highly, highly recommend, and I actually bought a hard copy of this book just so I can lend it to people.

Alice Hoffman has done it again! If you enjoy magical realism with a touch of time travel, influence and fate this one is for you! There are themes of how powerful books and reading is, how every woman should have a choice with her body and life, as well as a mother’s love.

What starts off as the story of Ivy, a soon to be mother who escapes the life she knew for one that believed women were to be submissive, children were to be shared, books were burned and you must obey the leader. Ivy and her daughter Mia had an unbreakable bond, and shortly before her birth, Ivy realized that this life maybe wasn’t a life at all but she married the leader anyway…

As Mia grew older she realized that this certainly wasn’t a lifestyle she believed in, and found a bit of relief when her mother instructed her to briefly visit the library when they were supposed to be selling their harvest at the market. Mia befriended the librarian and found a whole new world in books! She took a chance by bringing some back to the Community, and of course they were found by Joel, the leader and her “father”.

Ivy took the blame and was punished, meeting Mia later and giving her a strict warning to be more careful. It’s in these moments that Mia tries to convince her to leave, to find a new life. If only Mia tried harder… the very next trip to the market, Ivy was killed in an accident with the bushels of apples.

Mia has intentions of committing suicide until a startling ode in the book The Scarlet Letter resonates with her. She feels it’s written for her.

Enter Author Nathan Hawthorne, an interesting interlude that includes some of his family history, and his struggles with writing.

Mia travels back in time with a copy of The Scarlet Letter and meets Nathan Hawthorne, in hopes of inspiring him to write the book and to change her future, by trapping Joel.

Thank you @netgalley and @atriabooks for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Mia has grown up in an oppressive cult. Books and communication with the outside world are forbidden. However, Mia is intrigued by the library in the nearby town and eventually finds her way in and learns the power of books. She falls in love with The Scarlet Letter, and the similarities to her cult cannot be ignored. Mia also discovers an ability to time travel. She ventures back 200 years and meets and falls in love with Nathaniel Hawthorne. But what happens if she changes the past and Nathaniel never writes The Scarlet Letter, the very book that saved her?

I have been a long-time Alice Hoffman fan. And while it was the first and final thirds of this book that worked best for me, the premise of this drew me right in. Hoffman is such a gifted writer and crafts spellbinding stories highlighting important issues, particularly those that affect women. She packed so much into this one, including several feminist themes and the power and life-changing importance of books and literacy.

Like all of Hoffman's books, the female characters in this are captivating and memorable. Mia is such a strong female MC and a survivor, and I rooted for her the whole way through. Another character I loved was Nathaniel's sister, Elizabeth. Her depiction here is so well-done that I became curious about her and researched the fascinating real-life woman.

This book is also a love letter to books, libraries, and readers. Not only does an iconic book play a pivotal role, but so does the author who wrote it. I loved the literary references, Nathaniel Hawthorne's appearance, and the magical realism that made it so powerful in the story. You don't need to have read The Scarlet Letter to enjoy this. Either way, it is poignant and thought-provoking and celebrates the life-changing power of books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to review this ARC. I enjoyed it!

Books CAN save lives and take us to other worlds, times. Once again, Alice Hoffman writes a powerful story about women's lives, mixing in a bit of magical realism and even time travel. Lovely story!

I received an arc of this new novel from the author and publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks! My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

Mia was born and raised in the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden, and books are considered evil. Her mother, Ivy, ran away from home as a pregnant teen, and that was where she had landed. She was taken under the wings of the cult leader, who married Ivy. When Ivy died by a freak accident when Mia was in her teens, Mia finally sees her chance to escape. As a child, Mia used to sneak over to the local library in town and check out books. She struck up a friendship with the librarian there, and that is who she turned to when she made her escape. One of her favorite books that she had read from the library was The Scarlet Letter. That book made her fall in love with reading, and as an adult, she falls in love with the writer himself. As she travels back in time to meet him, using her beloved copy of the book, she must make sure not to interfere with his writing of that book... because what would happen if Nathaniel Hawthorne never wrote The Scarlet Letter? And what if Mia Jacob never found it on the day she planned to die?

This book is told in two parts - the first is the story of Ivy & Mia, and then the second is the time travel portion where she goes back in time and meets Nathaniel Hawthorne. After reading this, I kind of want to fish out my old copy of The Scarlet Letter and re-read it. As with all of this author's books there is the element of magic, although this is more of a time travel book than one about magic. This may not have been my favorite of all of this author's books, but it was still really good, and I wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone who loves a good story, especially one with an element of fantasy to it.

Let me start this review by prefacing this:

I /hated/ The Scarlet Letter when I was in high school. In fact, I think my entire class did. It was required reading, of course we did. And my teacher, he knew. He knew we hated it but boy did he make us evaluate every minute detail of that damned book.

He became my favorite teacher. The one I would visit on a whim far after I had graduated. He unexpectedly passed away in 2017 and since then, I had seen The Scarlet Letter EVERYWHERE. It was as if he was trolling me beyond the grave. And I laughed every time.

So when I saw this book on NetGalley and skimmed the summary, I knew it was my teacher, laughing at me once again. And I knew I had to request it.

But enough about that.

The Invisible Hour was my first book by Alice Hoffman, as I'm not a hugeeeee magical realism fan. However, it was interesting enough that I would probably read more of her books.

The first portion of the book is told from a mix of Ivy and her daughter and the main character, Mia's point of view. They're members of The Community, a cult, of course. Ivy, a voracious reader, passes her love of books to Mia. Mia finds and steals a copy of The Scarlet Letter in a library and immediately falls in love with the book and with Nathaniel Hawthorne. She learns everything about him and his family and his influences.

So of course, add in a touch of time travel and "witchery" and she meets and falls in love with Nathaniel.

Overall, I liked the story. It was indeed magical and you felt the intensity in their forbidden romance. And I do love a good cult book. I, and I'm sure many of us readers, can relate to Mia and her love for books. Though I still don't think I can relate to her love for The Scarlet Letter yet. Sorry, Nathaniel.


Bullmer, this was for you. I hope you're laughing.



Thank you NetGalley for an ARC copy in exchange for my review.

In "The Invisible Hour" by Alice Hoffman, the power of words becomes Mia Jacob's lifeline on a seemingly hopeless day. Set against the backdrop of an oppressive cult called the Community, where books are condemned, the tale delves into Mia's discovery of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter." Despite being written centuries earlier, the novel strangely mirrors Mia and her mother Ivy's life inside the cult.

Hoffman weaves a poignant narrative that navigates heartbreak, love, and time itself, prompting Mia to challenge the Community's rules and embrace the world of books. This journey reveals the profound connection between readers and writers, as well as the fluidity of time and the enduring strength of love. The book's theme gains particular relevance amidst current attacks on women's rights and book bans.

While the story captivates, there are occasional hiccups in continuity and timeline that might disrupt the reader's immersion. The narrative's occasional jumps might leave one wishing for a smoother progression.

Through Mia's odyssey, the novel explores the extraordinary influence of a single dream. Hoffman's work underscores the remarkable potential of words to transcend boundaries and change lives. With a solid 4 out of 5 stars, "The Invisible Hour" is a captivating exploration of resilience, love, and the timeless magic of storytelling.

My ARC was provided by the publisher (Atria Books) via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Born in a cult that forbids books, it's ironic that Mia's life was saved by one, namely The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne!

"In a place where books were banned, there could be no personal freedom, no hope, and no dreams for the future."

But, Mia thought differently than the other cult members because Mia knew the magic of a good book and was desperate to escape. Mia was strong and determined to not only survive, but THRIVE!

"I was the girl who knew how to escape, the one who could become invisible, who believed that a single dream was more powerful than a thousand realities."

The Invisible Hour took me on an unforgettable journey to another time and place, both literally and figuratively as Mia's dream of meeting Nathaniel Hawthorne is realized when she time travels to 1837 Salem, Massachusetts. As all readers know, just like magic, books can transport you to other times and places but, how will Nathaniel meeting Mia, a woman from the future, change him and the books he hasn't yet written, including Mia's beloved The Scarlet Letter? Will their love prevail despite the risk?

"In every fairy tale, the girl who is saved is the one who rescues herself."

"Every fairy tale ended with the same lessons. Trick your enemy, do what you must, believe in enchantments, save yourself."

"She had not known the weight until she felt the freedom."

Location: Blackwell and Salem, Massachusetts

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.