Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

This is the story of Sally and Gillian Owen, 2 sisters who come from a long line of witches. When they are young, their parents are killed and they move in with their mysterious aunts who let them stay up as late as they want, eat chocolate for breakfast and enforce no rules whatsoever on the girls.

The aunts are notorious in town for helping people solve their problems (sometimes to their detriment) using their magical gifts and concoctions. The girls are both relentlessly bullied and teased by the other children in town.

While Gillian enjoys her magical family history and is more of a free spirit, she relishes the freedom from rules and longs to escape the small town.

Sally, more traditional, and embarrassed by her family and being the talk of the town, tries to cook healthy meals, keep up appearances, and appear more "normal".

As soon as Gillian turns 18, she leaves town and becomes a bit of a wild child.

Sally marries and has 2 daughters. When Sally's beloved husband is killed, she is devastated, barely able to eat, care for her daughters or even get out of bed. 

When Sally's girls are teenagers, Gillian comes to visit. They have not been close for many years and Sally is angry when Gillian tells her that she has killed her boyfriend, Jimmy, a sadistic, controlling and abusive man, and asks Sally for help. Sally reluctantly agrees to help, but is angry that her sister has brought this mess into her life, and threatening the "normal"life he has built for her daughters. The sisters attempt magic to rid themselves of Jimmy, setting in motion bizarre and terrifying events. Out of their league, they are forced to turn to their aunts for help.

This is a magical novel about family connections, acceptance and  love.

An absolutely enchanting novel.  There are also 2 others in the series: "Magic Lessons" due out in October 2020 and "Rules of Magic", also very good.






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