Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. Today is Friday, and it’s time for another review. This week, I am reviewing Alice Hoffman’s The Rules of Magic.

The Rules of Magic was published in 2017 by Simon and Schuster and is 367 pages long.

The Plot
The Rules of Magic, a prequel to the brilliant Practical Magic, tells the story of the Owens family, specifically Frances and Bridget from that book and their brother Vincent. Set in 1960s New York City, the book explores their journey of self-discovery as they come to terms with their unique magical abilities and navigate the complexities of love, family, and destiny.

Characters
Frances Owens
Frances, known mainly as Franny throughout the book, is the eldest sibling. She is the more practical and sensible of her siblings and has a knack for charming animals but doesn’t believe in keeping them as pets.

Franny struggles with matters of the heart, which finally come to a head when she realises she is in love with her best friend, Haylin, leaving her worrying that her family’s curse will take him from her.

Bridget Owens
Bridget, known also as Jet due to her black hair, is the middle sibling. She is kind, sensitive and capable of sensing people’s thoughts, though her magical abilities greatly diminish when she loses the love of her life.

Bridget’s journey towards self-acceptance and finding love is one of the central themes in the novel, adding layers of complexity to her character.

Vincent Owens
Vincent is the youngest of the Owens siblings, and his character surprised me the most. He is charismatic and charming and can see prophetic visions of the future.

After questioning why his entanglements with women were unfulfilling and realising that they were always about what he could get from the situation rather than anything romantic he felt for the woman, Vincent realises that he is gay and falls in love with a man named William though not before fathering a child with a distant cousin.

Aunt Isabelle
Isabelle Owens plays a significant role in shaping the lives of Franny, Jet, and Vincent. She acts as the siblings’ mentor, imparting wisdom about their magical heritage and teaching them about love, loss, and resilience. She is mysterious yet nurturing, with a deep connection to nature that influences her interactions with others.

Haylin walker
Haylin was Frances’ only friend at school, and later, when she realises that he is the love of her life, she must do all she can to resist his love, fearful that her family’s curse will see him dead. However, in the end, they figure out a bittersweet way to beat the curse.

William Grant
William is Vincent’s love interest in the book, and can also see glimpses of things that ordinary people shouldn’t. He is separated from Vincent a couple of times throughout the story, first when Vincent is locked in a mental institution for trying to dodge the draft and for being gay, and then again when he escapes and flees to France. They eventually meet up again later and, like Franny and Haylin, discover an intriguing way to beat the curse.

April Owens
April is a distant cousin of Franny, Jet and Vincent. On their first visit to Aunt Isabelle’s, Vincent and April spend the night together (before he figures out that he is only attracted to men), resulting in the birth of their daughter, Regina.

Regina Owens
Regina is the daughter of Vincent and April and is the niece of Jet and Franny. She grows up to become an artist who likes to paint trees and is also a mother to Gillian and Sally (the protagonists in the first book). It is Regina’s death that sets up the plot of Practical Magic.

Levi Willard
Jet meets Levi whilst visiting her aunt Isabelle in Massachusetts. He is her first love. They are very distantly related, his ancestor being a witch hunter who fell in love with Maria Owns, the woman who sets off the Owens curse, before abandoning her. When he passes away, his loss affects her immensely.

Gillian and Sally Owens
Gillian and Sally are Vincent’s granddaughters, and although they are prominent characters in the first book, they appear briefly at the end of this one to set up that story.

Writing Style
Hoffman writes with such a compelling and evocative style. Her ability to draw you into the story world that is both normal and mundane yet vivid and sprinkled with magic is nothing short of amazing.

By setting the story in the 1960s and 70s, she captures the cultural and social milieu of the era, from the Civil Rights Movement to the Vietnam War, while infusing it with the mystical and mysterious. From marvellous descriptions of small-town Massachusetts to the bustling streets of New York City, the novel is replete with sensory details that transport the reader into the characters’ world.

And speaking of characters, they are all well-drawn and fully fleshed out, too, with quirks and flaws. Franny, Jet, and Vincent are not typical heroes or heroines but, instead, are complex individuals who struggle with their identity, relationships, and even their destinies. Their relationships and interactions with each other and the other characters, such as their aunt Isabelle and love interests, are brilliantly layered, adding a lovely depth and nuance to the story.

Final Thoughts
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I hold Practical Magic close to my heart, and naturally, I wanted to love The Rules of Magic, so I’m delighted that I do. I can’t wait to read the following two books in the series, and you can be sure I’ll be posting all about them when I do.

Overall, The Rules of Magic is a marvellous work of fiction, and I’d highly recommend it to any fan of magical realism, coming-of-age stories, and family sagas.

I’m giving The Rules of Magic a 10/10.

Have you read any of the Practical Magic books? Do you (can you?) have a favourite?
Thank you, as always, for stopping by to read my review. It means a lot!

Until next time,

George

© 2024 GLT

Categories: Book Reviews, Reading

Tags: Alice Hoffman, book review, brother, magic, practical magic, review, romance, sisters