The Rules of Magic: A Novel

Alice Hoffman

Oct 2017 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by Marin Ireland

About this audiobook

An instant New York Times bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick from beloved author Alice Hoffman—the spellbinding prequel to Practical Magic.

Find your magic.

For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Yet, the children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the memorable aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.

Alice Hoffman delivers “fairy-tale promise with real-life struggle” (The New York Times Book Review) in a story how the only remedy for being human is to be true to yourself. Thrilling and exquisite, real and fantastical, The Rules of Magic is “irresistible…the kind of book you race through, then pause at the last forty pages, savoring your final moments with the characters” (USA TODAY, 4/4 stars).

Ratings and reviews

AudioBook Review: Stars: Overall 4 Narration 4 Story 4 All good witch-family stories start with a curse and unjustified, and perhaps hysterical, charges of sorcery – such is the case of the curse on the Owens family, stretching back to the early seventeenth century. But, even in the more present day of the 1960’s where the three siblings, Franny, Jet and Vincent have only part of the story, many ill-gained conclusions and plenty of restrictions as their mother tries to keep them safe. Of course, the three are headstrong (would you expect anything else) and even daring to defy the rules so carefully put in place: rules they don’t always understand as they don’t really know the history. Not until Aunt Isabelle. Isabelle lives in Massachusetts where everything began for the Owens, and she’s of the belief that the children should know their history, their magic and how to use, not fear, it. As one would expect, the differences of the three and their abilities, as well as a rather insular approach to outsiders makes them objects of speculation and gossip – made even more apparent at Isabelle’s house where the stories and legends of the ‘curse’ on the Owens is a favored topic of discussion. Each of the characters becomes a fully formed person in this story: showing fears, desires and even struggles as they come into their own powers and knowledge of the family. Hoffman builds a story that feels as if it does reach back hundreds of years, tendrils and tentacles of the past reaching forward to connect the family, the magic and even the struggles as they felt (and sometimes were) outcasts in their own home. Narration for this story is provided by Marin Ireland, and her smooth, almost effortless presentation of both dialogue and atmospheric moments allowed the story to move forward, allowing listeners time to visualize moments and absorb the subtle nuances in emotions, details and background information that added to my understanding and belief of the curse, the magic and even the potential for these three to move forward and make lives that were mostly happy. A wonderful mix of historic moments, acceptance and growth, all put together in a way that engages and captivates, whether or not you are familiar with the book or film to which this is background. I received an AudioBook copy of the title from Simon Audio for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

I laughed, cried, and gasped as I listen. I feel like a distant family member of the Owens. Very well written. The storyteller has a very beautiful voice.

About the author

Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The Book of Magic, Magic Lessons, The World That We Knew, Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic (a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick), the Oprah’s Book Club Selection Here on Earth, The Red Garden, The Dovekeepers, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, The Marriage of Opposites, and Faithful. She lives near Boston.