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Fiction.
Literature.
Historical Fiction.
HTML:In this " bewitching" (TheNew York Times Book Review) novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic. Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin? With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she's abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the "Nameless Arts." Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.
When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here 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.
Magic Lessons is a "heartbreaking and heart-healing" (BookPage) celebration of life and love and a showcase of Alice Hoffman's masterful storytelling.… (más)
Series: Practical Magic Book 0.1 (so, of course, a prequel written after the first two in the “Practical Magic” series.)
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION: When I read about the Salem Witch trials in a book called “The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem” by Stacy Schiff, I was very thankful I had not lived in that place in those times, but Hoffman’s protagonist, Maria, does, and scarier, she IS a witch. Now you’d think, being a witch, one could get out of trouble, or would at the very least attempt to keep out of harms way, knowing just where it is…but, true to life, that’s not quite how it works. Not that this story IS completely true to life—we’ll go with ‘magic realism’. This was my first Alice Hoffman book, and not knowing what to expect, I vacillated throughout this book with whether I liked it, overall, and had to keep postponing my decision. I generally need to like the protagonist to like a book. But now that you know that, I cannot say whether or not I liked it without spoiling it for you. I did like that, according to the story, my husband was born on the luckiest day of the year (March 20). . . I think that’s what it said. Lucky, anyway. And, this will be meaningless to you also, but I also like that the author and the narrator are both Pisces. ( )
A beautifully written addition to the Practical Magic series. It has the perfect mixture of historical fiction and magic realism. I am looking forward to the next installment! ( )
Suspending progress... While I am THRILLED to have snagged an advance copy (thank you, Tonie!), it was veering a little too close to disturbingly dark for me, at this time. Can't wait to come back to it when I am a little more resilient with such tones.
I'm losing the will to live: another three star bloater. Practical Magic is one of my favourite films, but the books are romance novels with literary pretensions. The author rhapsodises on the meaning of love so often that she sounds like the Love Is ... cartoons by Kim Casali from the 1960s. Why have a prequel about a strong woman like Maria Owens, the female ancestor who escapes hanging when the rope breaks, and make her a blithering idiot who falls for the first charmer she meets? Why make her story about men at all? Maria is the daughter of a witch who is raised by another woman also skilled in the 'Nameless Art', and her daughter Faith is even more powerful, yet half of the overblown and repetitive story is wasted on wall art philosophy like 'love someone who will love you back'. The author's only saving grace is her historical research and wry take on the hypocritical 'Puritans' of New England and the men - of course - who labelled as witches and then murdered women for not following the rules. So much for the New World! ( )
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.
---WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Dedicatoria
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
She was found on a January day in a field where the junipers grew, wound in a blue blanket with her name carefully stitched along the border with silk thread.
Citas
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés.Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
This was true magic, the making and unmaking of the world with paper and ink.
"To any man who ever loves an Owens, let this curse befall you, let your fate lead to disaster, let you be broken in body and soul, and may it be that you never recover."
Fate is what you make of it. You can make the best of it, or you can let it make the best of you.
Do as you will, but harm no one. What you give will be returned to you threefold. Fall in love whenever you can.
For candles were dangerous at sea, just as religion is dangerous on land.
Fiction.
Literature.
Historical Fiction.
HTML:In this " bewitching" (TheNew York Times Book Review) novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic. Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin? With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she's abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the "Nameless Arts." Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. It is here that she learns her first important lesson: Always love someone who will love you back.
When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. Here 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.
Magic Lessons is a "heartbreaking and heart-healing" (BookPage) celebration of life and love and a showcase of Alice Hoffman's masterful storytelling.
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)
Google Books — Cargando...
(4.12)
1
(Print: 10/6/2020; 978-1982108847; Simon & Schuster; 416 pages)
Audio: 10/6/2020; 9781797111254; Simon & Schuster Audio; duration 13:35:01 (13 parts).
(Film: No).
Series:
Practical Magic Book 0.1 (so, of course, a prequel written after the first two in the “Practical Magic” series.)
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
When I read about the Salem Witch trials in a book called “The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem” by Stacy Schiff, I was very thankful I had not lived in that place in those times, but Hoffman’s protagonist, Maria, does, and scarier, she IS a witch. Now you’d think, being a witch, one could get out of trouble, or would at the very least attempt to keep out of harms way, knowing just where it is…but, true to life, that’s not quite how it works. Not that this story IS completely true to life—we’ll go with ‘magic realism’.
This was my first Alice Hoffman book, and not knowing what to expect, I vacillated throughout this book with whether I liked it, overall, and had to keep postponing my decision. I generally need to like the protagonist to like a book. But now that you know that, I cannot say whether or not I liked it without spoiling it for you.
I did like that, according to the story, my husband was born on the luckiest day of the year (March 20). . . I think that’s what it said. Lucky, anyway. And, this will be meaningless to you also, but I also like that the author and the narrator are both Pisces. (