Readers who have already exhausted Alice Hoffman’s extensive collection of literary works might enjoy diving into the fantastic world of “Gods of Jade and Shadow.” Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s novel follows Casiopea as she flees her not so charmed life to aid a god’s quest to regain his throne in the underworld. Salem now is far from Salem then. You’re writing a fourth and final book in the Practical Magic series. It follows her journey from England to the Caribbean to Salem, Mass. Magic Lessons has to do with she's learning all about this, and we kind of want to learn magic with her. Regina relocates with April to Santa Cruz so she can attend school and make friends. By TinaMarie Craven. Women who were not physicians, but [practitioners of] folk medicine. Magic Lessons, out Oct. 6, goes back to the 1600s and traces the family’s mystical history to founding matriarch Maria. As it turned out, Regina had a halo around her head, indicating she was to have a short life, and her mother did not want her spend that amount of time under the dictation of her parents. Jet cooed at her while Vincent, not knowing that she was his daughter, shook her tiny hand in greetings. Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. Were current events potent in your mind? Vincent returns home, and Regina demands that he reads to her her favorite book, Half Magic. But Maria just walked in the door. Regina Owens is the deceased mother of Sally and Gillian Owens in Practical Magic, and is a minor character in The Rules of Magic. All the Owens women are reacting to a world afraid of powerful women. Regina was very close with her mother and had been so sad at her passing that she took to her bed and could sometimes be heard crying while she hung the laundry on the line. But I'm so glad I did. This book has hallmarks of magic we've seen in the other books in the series, as well as new herbal curatives and magical practices. Inevitably, Regina and April leave in the morning, resuming their odyssey to California. The whole idea of Puritanism, and the intolerance of the Puritans, which really added to the witch mania, was in my mind in terms of what's happening today. Practical Magic Wiki is a FANDOM Books Community. The Owens sisters confront the challenges of life and love in this bewitching novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic and Magic Lessons. It was because my readers kept saying they wanted to go back to that family. In this book, evil really exists. She was a painter whose subject matter was trees. With Maria Owens, in the 1600s, when she’s abandoned in a snowy field in rural England as a baby. And you still have to find a way to have faith in the world.

It wasn't until they planned on her growing up at Beacon Hill and attending private school that April decided it was time for the two of them to leave. Can you tease it for us? She had a lovely singing voice and was so graceful the birds came to watch when she hung the laundry on the line.

and beyond. Regina did not worry for Gillian like she did for Sally, for her youngest daughter was far more carefree. When Maria is abandoned by the man who has declared his love for her, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts. For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. I did too, but I just had never really thought of doing it. Regina could make the broom sweep all by itself when she cleaned the house. Even more so, Hoffman excels at crafting the world of her story around a theme. Sometimes that happens; a character will appear and walk through the door and just be whole. Love is the only thing that matters. She had a lovely singing voice and was so graceful the birds came to watch when she hung the laundry on the line. I did go up there, but everything looks so different. Gallery: Celebrities react to Chadwick Boseman's passing (Wonderwall). Daniel decided to take her on a second honeymoon to cheer her up, but the curse causes their cabin to catch on fire, and the two perish. For the next five years, her grandparents demanded a say in how Regina was raised, against April's wishes. Did you want to upend or subvert those?

There's a reason why little girls especially are interested in witches, and it’s that witches are the only female mythic figure that have power. Don't forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW. Here she invokes the curse that will haunt her family. They'd dropped out to live on the land and for the first year they'd lived in a shack, sleeping together in one sleeping-bag, mad for each other.

Alice Hoffman spells out how she conjured up origin story Magic Lessons. Understanding and knowledge cannot be forced upon a person. She occasionally got gifts from Vincent, but was none the wiser of his true identity or location. I draw a lot on real practices of healing of the time, herbal remedies, folk remedies. Unlocking the tragedies and triumphs of magic, it uncovers the genesis of the family's infamous centuries-spanning curse, which dooms any man who loves an Owens.

The last line of the book is about how love is the most important thing and the only thing that matters. Menu. For more from EW's Fall Books Special, order the October issue of Entertainment Weekly now, or find it on newsstands beginning Sept. 18. Fear of the other. Some of the characters are shaped by that. I'm coming to it from a sense of sisterhood. Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours.

I did a lot of research about what was happening in England at the time. Regina was a beautiful woman with long, black hair and grey eyes the colour of mist. Instead, she was born in Boston and financed by her maternal grandparents. Yes, in some ways. But there's also someone else that she winds up being involved with that was a complete surprise to me so I think it will be to my readers also.

I did a lot of research about pirates, which figure into it. Novel Approach: Alice Hoffman’s ‘Magic Lessons’ revisits the Owens family with new prequel, https://www.theridgefieldpress.com/arts-leisure/article/Novel-Approach-Alice-Hoffman-s-Magic-15624952.php, Photo: TinaMarie Craven / Hearst Connecticut Media /. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes.

Our latest read takes us to a young witch who travels the world as she learns some of the most important lessons about life and magic. Practical Magic (1998) Sandra Bullock as Sally Owens. But Hoffman has spent the past quarter of a century living with the Owens in her head, and at last, she's giving readers the origin story they've craved. Packed with details about the medicinal benefits of many herbs, Hoffman’s charming prequel story of a woman who learns the trials and wonders of love might find themselves inspired to keep a sprig of lavender in their homes. Regina worried for her eldest daughter who she feared was too cautious, often telling her "don't live a little, live a lot.". The persecution of people who are different, whether it's women as witches, whether it's Jews, whoever it is, it always comes from the same place of being against anyone who's different. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. She's always been involved with a member of the Hathorne family. And writing about a place where if you strayed from the values, it was a sign of revolt and perversity.

At times the story feels a bit long and it can be slow in the second portion of the novel, but it provides readers with a more comprehensive backstory to the Owens family curse. I did a lot of research about Salem. It’s about the whole Owens family, but it’s very much about [Practical Magic heroine] Sally’s daughters, who are now grown-ups. It felt like a homecoming. Fall in love whenever you can.” — Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic. “Magic Lessons” tells the story of Maria Owens, the woman who created the curse that many “Practical Magic” (both book and film) fans will remember doomed the romantic lives of all future generations of Owens women. [I recently found] a drawing that I did, when I was in first grade, of a witch! The connection between magic and words and writing is really interesting to me. She and her mother return to Boston not long after that. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. I think some of the story will be a big surprise, especially who she's involved with. She revealed herself to me. Her father was unaware Regina was his daughter until six years after her birth. I have a huge magic library in my bedroom and some of the books are so strange and difficult to find. Novel Approach: Alice Hoffman’s ‘Magic Lessons’ revisits the Owens family with new prequel. She, April, and April's parents attended Susanna and James' funeral at the family cemetery, where Regina met the Owens siblings. While there, Regina colors as April talks to Jet and Franny, confirming Franny's knowledge of the halo. It’s about the whole Owens family, but it’s very much about [Practical Magic heroine] Sally’s daughters, who are now grown-ups. Mother and daughter spend the rest of their lives in California, where she eventually grows up, meets her husband Daniel, and has two daughters of her own: Sally and Gillian. People do terrible things.

It's kind of sweet revenge. With only a duffel bag and a job offer in Palm Desert, California, Regina and her mother left Boston on a Greyhound, stopping in New York to stay the night at the siblings' house. ALICE HOFFMAN: I definitely did not think it was gonna be more than one book. 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of Practical Magic, which was also turned into a 1998 feature film starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Lovers of Practical Magic will certainly come in with assumptions about her. It was very difficult to do because I wrote Practical Magic 25 years ago.

Regina was a beautiful woman with long, black hair and grey eyes the colour of mist. Where did Maria and the Owens family come from? Under the care of Hannah Owens, Maria learns about the “Unnamed Arts.” Hannah recognizes that Maria has a gift and she teaches the girl all she knows. This book is really about trying to have faith in the future, even in a very dark time when evil is everywhere. In advance of the book's appropriately autumnal release, we called up Hoffman to talk her lifelong obsession with witches, how she invented the Owens family, and why she'll never tire of telling stories about powerful women.

It’s really the Massachusetts of my imagination [in the book].

If I had, I would have planned it out at the time. It is kind of a commercial place, but there's still a spirit there.