The Book of Magic

Just finished "The Book of Magic" by Alice Hoffman in time for this weekend's Petaluma Ladies Book Club. Once again I was happily under the spell of the Owens women - 300 years of witches stretching from Massachusetts back to England. At first, it seemed like this might be the book to wrap up the brightly colored threads from all the Owens stories, dating back to "Practical Magic," its prequels and sequels. But by the end, I spotted at least five new threads that I really hope Hoffman spins into more adventures for the Owens clan. (How did Hannah Owens learn that fancy penmanship, anyway?)

No one can hold a candle to the way Hoffman mixes gardening, cooking, white, red, and black magic, siblings, mothers, tea, love, danger, broken hearts, history and curses; at the end it's a story as rich and satisfying as the Chocolate Tipsy Cake served up in the book. In fact, halfway through the book I was already wanting the recipe for that cake -- and the one for Courage Tea. (Click the links to find fan versions of both.)

Five stars. It's going on my Witches bookshelf.

*Note to moms: This one is just fine for YA reading. PG-13 for brief mentions of nudity and non-explicit but sweet mentions of adult sex between 40somethings.

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