Publisher's Weekly Review
Hoffman's striking latest entry in her Practical Magic series (after The Rules of Magic) turns to 1664 rural England for the origin story of Maria Owens, matriarch of the series' clan of witches. Maria is discovered as an infant by Hannah Owens, a practitioner of the "Nameless Art" who raises Maria and teaches her natural remedies and witchcraft. As a girl, Maria has an innate sense of magic and emulates Hannah's desire to help the scores of women who secretly come to her for help--mostly for problems with their love lives. After Maria is reclaimed at age 10 by her birth mother, Rebecca, another Nameless Art practitioner, Maria comes to understand--like other heroines in Hoffman's "Magic" books--that love can be unexpectedly overpowering. Maria becomes ensnared in a complicated relationship and has a daughter out of wedlock. As Maria's story takes her from England to Massachusetts and New York, Hoffman offers an eye-opening account of how single women were treated in the 17th century, particularly when their knowledge or intelligence was deemed threatening. While the musings on "enchantments and remedies" grow repetitive, Maria's page-turning adventure is thoroughly enjoyable. Hoffman's redemptive story of a fiercely independent woman adds an engrossing, worthwhile chapter to the series. (Oct.)
Library Journal Review
Hoffman tells the story of Maria Owens, the ancestor of the women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic. It begins with Maria as an abandoned baby in 1600s England. She is taken in by Hannah Owens, a witch and healer. At Hannah's side, Maria learns to harness her innate magic. A cruel twist of fate leads Maria to leave England for Curaçao, where she meets a man and falls in love. It is only after he leaves the island without a goodbye that she discovers she is pregnant. She follows him across the sea to Salem, MA, where she is tried as a witch and sets in motion the curse that will affect her family for generations. Sutton Foster expertly narrates all of the Owens women and the men in their lives, lending each a unique personality and voice. Hoffman paints a vivid and spellbinding picture of what life was like for women at this time, and of the hysteria that surrounded the idea of women as witches both in England and in the colonies. VERDICT This audiobook is a delight and a good addition to any collection.--Courtney Pentland, Omaha, NE