The Book of Magic: A Novel (The Practical Magic Series #4) (Hardcover)
October 2021 Indie Next List
“A wonderful conclusion to the series with a new generation of Owens to charm us. For fans who like their books with a good dose of magic, and readers who enjoy a family saga with characters that win you over. What a treat!”
— Laura Taylor, The Oxford Exchange, Tampa, FL
Staff Reviews
What a gift to return to the Owens family we came to love in Practical Magic! Alice Hoffman’s gorgeous prose casts a spell on you as you read, and it’s a satisfying conclusion to this beloved series. Three generations of the Owens family – ones you already know and love, ancestors at the beginning of the curse, and the newest generation – all come together in a celebration of family and anyone who’s ever been in love.
— KymFor over three-hundred years a curse has kept the Owens family from love—but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work.
A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love.
A heartfelt and satisfying conclusion to a beloved series, The Book of Magic celebrates mothers and daughters, sisters and brothers, and anyone who has ever been in love.
“Some stories begin at the beginning and others begin at the end.” So opens The Book of Magic, the final installment of Alice Hoffman’s popular Practical Magic series, a page-turning fairy tale of a saga that spans three books, one star-studded movie adaptation and multiple centuries of adventure and misadventure, love lost and found and bottomless cauldrons of sorcery in the lives of the bewitchingly witchy Owens family....like the witches who populate her stories, Hoffman certainly knows how to enchant." —NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"Alice Hoffman has given us such a gift with this series, and this final chapter is sure to be another heartfelt celebration of mothers and daughters and the magic of falling in love." —LITHUB
“I love Alice Hoffman. Full of Hoffman’s bewitching and lucid prose and vivid characters, The Book of Magic is ultimately about the very human magic of family and love and actions that echo through generations. Filled with secrets and splendor and light and dark, the novel works as well as a stand-alone as it does as a conclusion to a mesmerizing series. It casts a spell.” —MATT HAIG, New York Times best-selling author of The Midnight Library