Alice Hoffman is a very talented writer. I love her lyrical prose and the enchanting feelings surrounding her words. The dual timeline situation surrounding Nathaniel Hawthorne was clever, but overall, this book just didn’t hold my attention after this part of the plot got introduced.

I had forgotten I liked Alice Hoffman’s writing. “The Invisible Hour” was THE perfect re-introduction to her storytelling. This is a novel about the power of books, a belief I hold near and dear to my heart because I have seen it manifested over and over again in my students. When Ivy is little more than 17 years old, she becomes pregnant and disowned by her parents. Being in such a precarious situation, she is easily convinced to join a cult where she is partnered with none other than the cult leader himself, Joel Jacobs. But when her baby Mia is born, she recognizes the prison in which she has placed her daughter and looks for ways to instil a sense of freedom in her daughter. This freedom includes finding sanctuary in the town’s library, where Mia falls in love with the writing of Nathanial Hawthorn; in fact, the first book she picks up is The Scarlet Letter, and in it is an inscription from Hawthorn himself that seems weirdly and intimately linked to Mia herself born over a hundred years after Hawthorn’s death?
When Mia is threatened with torture and imprisonment within the cult, she finds strength in Hawthorn’s words and escapes the only world she’s ever known.
This story has a little bit of everything: time travel, romance, and drama, but mostly it is a novel about how we can find strength and belonging in books, and I love this.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.
TW: Loss of a loved one, accidental pregnancy, cults, abuse
I love a good Alice Hoffman tale and this made for perfect holiday writing. A Scarlet Letter inspired mother-daughter tale that takes readers from the 20th century to Nathaniel Hawthorne's Salem. I admit to feeling just a little skeptical of N.H. as anyone's love interest after reading Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese. But I loved Mia as a character so I kept at it.

The author took some risks, granted it won't be everyone's cup of tea but I did enjoy the way things worked out for Mia. Except for the ending... those last few pages left me hanging. Overall, I enjoyed my reading experience.



Expected Publication 15/08/23
Goodreads Review 16/07/23

Thanks to Atria Books for the ARC!

Alice Hoffman is a very talented writer. I love her lyrical prose and the enchanting feelings surrounding her words. The dual timeline situation surrounding Nathaniel Hawthorne was clever, but overall, this book just didn’t hold my attention.

Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy of this book & Netgalley for an e-arc of this book, all opinions are my own.

This book is basically a love letter to books, to reading, and to every person that found themselves represented in a book. And toward the end I really had the thought: what came first, Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter or Mia's time travel adventure?

Despite being a shorter novel (my arc is less than 300 pages), it took a long time for the action to happen. I was initially pulled in because of the time travel element, which did not kick in until after the 50% mark in my ebook. The author does a good job setting up the character and her backstory, and it is good foreshadowing for later in the book too, I just thought that the time travel element would appear sooner.

Then let us discuss the chapters - they are so long. I finished chapter 2 in my ebook and checked back with my ARC....I was already 120 pages into the story. As a person that likes to finish reading sessions at the end of chapters, I was struggling. But, each chapter truly felt like a small part of the story, and I understand why the author did the chapter breaks the way she did.

This story was interesting, and I liked the romance between Mia and Hawthorne. I like the premise of this book, and how it tackled some common time travel "rules" and worked around them as well. There is a small cult element in the first half of the book too, so there is a lot going on in such a small package.

The Invisible Hour is about the love of reading, but also love in general and family as well. The story showcases different types of families, and how each one teaches a character something about themselves, and I think this led Mia to have some good character development. She learns a lot over the course of the story, she is not afraid to question things, and overall she feels like a unique, well written character I enjoyed reading about.

Overall, I could have done with shorter chapters but I did enjoy the story at hand. The premise is interesting, but I wanted the time travel to happen a little sooner. Everything in this book comes full circle though, and I could easily see myself rereading this and noticing new things each time. The story is definitely worth the read, and easy to understand even if you are not a huge fantasy reader.
Content warnings: loss of a loved one, toxic relationship, accidental pregnancy, misogyny/sexism, abuse

I’ve never been disappointed in Alice Hoffman’s stories; she keeps you involved and entranced until the very end. Her most recent work, Invisible Hour, is no exception.

She tells a story of a young girl who believes she’s in love and thinks she and her sweetheart will get married when she finds out she’s pregnant. However, her “sweetheart” turns out to be a cad and tells her he has other plans. The girl goes back home to tell her family and they are ashamed of her and she overhears them making plans to ship her to her aunt’s house and put the baby up for adoption. So she climbs out her bedroom window and goes to a commune to live. She has her baby, a girl, and they live in The Community together, but apart. The people there aren’t allowed to have books to read and are punished when they break the rules (and there are many rules). On the weekends during the summer they sell their produce in town and one day while they are working the stall together the girl (now fifteen) becomes curious about a building she sees in town. The mother tells her that’s a library and tells her to go in and look around but to be careful and not get caught. While there she discovers Nathaniel Hawthorn’s book The Scarlet Letter and comes to realize that the book tells a similar story to her mother’s. I’ll stop there. The story is beautifully told. I believe the author uses her story to point out that women haven’t in the past always had a say in what to do about an unplanned pregnancy. Whatever your viewpoint is she wants you to set that aside and look at the situation the girl is forced to deal with but it’s done in such a gentle way that the reader can see that a pregnant, scared teenager can wreck a lot of lives trying to do what’s best for herself and her child. There are many parallels to be drawn between this and The Scarlet Letter. I hope that High school English teachers will embrace the opportunity to teach The Scarlet Letter in a fresh way.

I’d like to thank both Alice Hoffman, the publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title.

Rating: 4.25 leaves out of 5
-Characters: 3/5
-Cover: 5/5
-Story: 3/5
-Writing: 4/5
Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Lit Fic
-Historical Fiction: 5/5
-Fantasy: 4/5
-Magical Realism: 4/5
-Lit Fic: 5/5
Type: Ebook
Worth?: Yes

Want to thank Netgalley and publishers for giving me the chance to read this book.

I have only read a couple of books by Alice Hoffman, Green Angel Series, when I was younger and though I found her style of writing to be on the odd side I loved every second. For this novel though, there were times I was just kind of confused. The magical part seemed to have appeared a bit out of no where. There was nothing leading up to it being introduced. Other than that I liked the story well enough. Screw cults, about the nicest thing I could possibly ever say. If you are looking for a quick and little odd read I suggest giving this book a try!

Alice Hoffman writes such well written, magical and thoughtful books. The Invisible Hour is no exception. Books, libraries and librarians take a special place in these pages. One can dream anything, even the day when women have the same rights and respect as men. This is a glorious book jut begging to be read.

This is my first Alice Hoffman, and now I wonder which rock I've been under, because she's definitely my kind of writer. I've already purchased Practical Magic and I can't wait to read it. Hoffman's use of magical realism is subtle and woven into an actual story, which is key for me. I can't stand when the technique is deployed such ostentatious flourish that it becomes distracting. Less razzle dazzle, more satisfying story. That's the way I like it.

This is the story of Mia, which starts when her mother Ivy, a teenager, becomes pregnant and runs away from home after her boyfriend dismisses her and her father berates her. She ends up living in a cultish commune called The Community. The leader, Joel, marries her and raises Mia as his own. Ivy knows she's made a mistake immediately, but with nowhere else to go, she stays. As Mia ages (the novel rapidly jumps ahead to Mia at age 15) she begins to chafe at the rules. Books are forbidden, yet Mia finds her way into the library in the Western Massachusetts town where The Community makes its home. She reads book after book, relishing the chance to escape her harsh reality. Eventually she stumbles upon a first edition copy of The Scarlett Letter, and it alters the course of her life. She falls head over heals with Nathaniel Hawthorne. In her mind, no contemporary man holds a candle to him.

One fall day, tragedy strikes and Mia knows she can no longer continue to live at The Community. She runs away, with the help of Alice, the public librarian, and begins a new life with the librarians partner, Constance, Mia finishes high school, graduates from NYU, and gets a master's in library science. She lands her dream job at the New York Public Library, all the while looking over her shoulder for Joel, who she knows will never let her go.

It's difficult to synopsize the rest of the book without giving away too much, but suffice it to say her life becomes even more entangle with Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's glorious, magical, and tender. I fell in love with Nathaniel, too.

If I had one critique of this book, it's that the pacing is a little off. The entire first part of the book, while Mia was at the commune, did drag a little. Then, after she's left at age 25, she turns 25 within a few pages. I haven't given much thought to how I would edit the book, but I do think something could have been done. Overall, though, I loved this book. Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest view.

I'm a huge fan of Alice Hoffman. Her writing is absolutely beautiful and she's made me love magical realism! I wanted to love this one. I loved the premise of time travel and it involved during so through books, but I struggled with this one.

Grateful to Alice Hoffman that she chose to pick up a pen to write this story.

A gifted storyteller whose powerful words open the reader to the reality of being female, and intelligent in a male dominated world.

The Invisible Hour weaved a story of Ivy, who lost her family because she did not fit what her parent’s expectations were for her, or their concerns of how they would appear to others. Equally heartbreaking is the cruel betrayal of Ivy's first love, which then leads her to a community cult in hopes of finding a home for her & her daughter Mia. Both Ivy & Mia are forced to live a life of survival with no joys of everyday life as dictated by cult leader, Joel.

Ivy & Mia find brief unspoken moments of connection, while forced to work side by side in manual labor. Ivy allows Mia to sneak away into a library, and the world of books. Through the kindness of strangers/librarian, the reader embarks on a path of meeting Nathaniel Hawthorne, both as an author and as a man. Nathaniel and Mia open their hearts to love, exploration and setting free their destinies.

Many times, while reading, I would close the book only to be haunted, wanting to read what would happen next. Loved this book, bought myself a pair of red shoes to wear in honor of Alice Hoffman’s signature red boots.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Invisible Hour, a wonderful read that will take you into many different worlds of emotions. Brilliant.

"Real life is unbelievable. Souls are snatched away from us, flesh and blood turn to dust, people you love betray you, men go to war over nothing. It's all preposterous. That's why we have novels. To make sense of things."

The Invisible Hour is a book about a book. It tells the captivating story about a young girl, Mia Jacob, who was raised in a cult that separates children from their mothers, punishes members who rebel against the leader, forbids contact with the outside world, dictates what women can do with their bodies, and bans reading any books. "In a place where books were banned, there could be no personal freedom, no hope, and no dreams for the future."

Mia, ever rebellious, sneaks into the local public library on numerous occasions. She is befriended by the kind librarian. After finding an original copy of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne with the inscription "To Mia" she no longer wants to kill herself. She recognizes it tells the story of her own beloved mother, Ivy. Mia gathers her strength and escapes the community. The evil community leader continues to hunt and taunt her throughout her life, hindering her personal development.

Mia is able to break the boundaries of time and reach out to her beloved author before The Scarlet Letter has been written. In this journey of self-discovery and self-empowerment of women, Mia learns the eternal truth that love is stronger than any chains of past bondage.

Alice Hoffman is such a gifted writer. I was moved by her author's note when she states "A book doesn't live when it's written. It lives when it is read." No wonder I am so enchanted by her stories.

I really enjoyed the first half of this novel but the second part dragged and I couldn't get into. The two parts felt disconnected and it wasn't my favorite compared to the other books by this author.

I will confess to being a huge Alice Hoffman fan. And no wonder, when she writes books like The Invisible Hour. It’s a story about the power of books, the strength of a mother’s love and the beauty of a found family. It’s an ode to librarians. As always, the writing is beautiful.
This starts as just a regular cult story. A young pregnant woman runs away from her family and ends up at a cult based commune in Western Massachusetts. A community that demands total obedience to its rules, including banning reading fiction. As the town librarian thinks “in a place where books were banned there could be no personal freedom, no hope, and no dreams for the future”. The woman becomes the wife of the cult leader and eventually gives birth to a baby girl. Going against the rules, she teaches her daughter the joys of reading and her daughter discovers the town library. In particular, she develops an intense love of the book, The Scarlet Letter. The bulk of the story covers the daughter, Mia and her fight to be her own person.
Then the book makes an abrupt shift for the second half and here’s where Hoffman’s magical realism comes in. We are transported back to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s time. I didn’t feel the ending held together as well as I would have liked, but loved the book up until the last few pages.
The book is a reminder that too often, throughout the years, women don’t get a say over their bodies or their lives.
My thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.

Alice Hoffman writes such beautiful stories that always center women and the way they live their lives according to their own purposes and desires within the confines of their time and circumstance. The Invisible Hour is no exception and was such a stunning read. The author’s note at the beginning sets the stage beautifully, and I absolutely tore through the first 50% of the book in one sitting. After that it started to slow down for me, and I thought there were some threads that weren’t fully tied up by the end. But overall, I loved this book and how Hoffman played with time and place. A true book lover’s book.

Content warnings: Ivy and Mia live in a cultish community and the community’s treatment of women is difficult to read at times. Women are physically branded and emotionally and physically abused for supposed indiscretion.

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

A huge thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for gifting me an ARC copy of this book.

In The Invisible Hour, we follow a young pregnant girl, Ivy, to a community where she marries the leader and eventually has her daughter. It turns out this community is more of cult where children do not belong to their parents but to the community, their education is limited, and they are not allowed to read literature. One day, Ivy's daughter, Mia, sneaks into the library and there she finds her love of literature and thus breaks away from the sheltered life she had been living.

This novel is full of so many literary references, namely Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and takes on the character of other great classics. You can feel the passion for these classic stories through the characters and through the author which was a pleasant surprise.
Unfortunately, this novel wasn't for me. I know it will find its readers and they will love it, I just wasn't one of them. The writing felt like a bullet point list of things that happened rather than taking the reader through the story and showing what happened. The story also felt like it wanted to be too many things and I found myself wishing it would dial back a little.

If you are a fan of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, I would recommend The Invisible Hour. If you are a fan of other classics, you will enjoy the easter eggs and the literary passion throughout the book. Plus, the cover is stunning!

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Mia has lived in a world without books her entire life. The leader of the commune has rules against outside influences like literature, art, and music, but Mia tends to push the boundaries of those rules. While in town running the farm stand one day, Mia sneaks into the library to see what it’s really like. That act of disobedience would change Mia’s world. She would find herself running from the commune leader for years and finding her way to a world filled with magic.

Best-selling author Alice Hoffman is back with a new novel showcasing her unique take on female relationships and the underlying magic that surrounds each of our lives. The Invisible Hour is an ode to the power of well written literature and how one book can open the world to a reader. This novel is a love story to female strength and independence. Hoffman’s skills with magic are showcased in the later chapters of the novel as Mia time travels to be with her true love – author Nathaniel Hawthorne.

I give The Invisible Hour 4 out of 5 stars. Hoffman has woven threads of magic throughout Mia’s life, pulling together each encounter and event so they feel intentionally placed and far from random. It is a reminder about the sacrifices women make both from their own choices, and that of the men who influence their lives. Hoffman includes many well researched details of Hawthorne’s life and folds them into Mia’s story seamlessly. However, the book at times felt like a political statement. Book burning and bans are central to the control aspect in the commune, and there are several conversations around women’s reproductive rights and ability to control their own futures.

If you love Alice Hoffman’s other works like Practical Magic and The Marriage of Opposites, you will enjoy this book! Her writing style is unique and shines in this new release. I would recommend this book as a book club read, or a book for girls’ weekend getaway. This would also make a great choice for readers who enjoy historical fiction with the sections on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life. Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is a supporting character throughout the novel and readers who enjoyed his work will like this book, too.

The weaving of the real world and fantasy happens in this book. It tells the story of how a book can save a lost soul.

Ivy and Mia faces terrible experiences as women and living in a cult.

Can Ivy and Mia free themselves from the grasp of Joel?

Read it and find out! There is a lot more to this book but I don’t want to spoil it!

Thank you #NetGalley and Atria Books for giving me the opportunity to read this!

I love Alice Hoffman, but I don’t know what happened with this book. It felt disjointed and unfinished.

This book was not at all what I was expecting. While I am a fan of Alice Hoffman's writing, I often find it difficult to enjoy. It could be that I just never pick up the book at the right time because again, I think she writes beautiful. This book brought back too many memories of having to read The Scarlet Letter as an English major in college. I feel like so many professors loved that book, which does a disservice to all the other classic American literature.

I LOVED Mia as a character; Hoffman always writes female characters well. I thought that she showed strength and fantastic character development. I also loved the ending.

Again, I liked this book and could have loved it, probably if I had read it at another time.