The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

 

Title:  The Book of Magic

Author: Alice Hoffman

Narrated by:  Jennifer Ehle

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 52 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank-you!

 Are you a fan of the Practical Magic series?  I’ve enjoyed the series and love Alice Hoffman’s novels.  The Book of Magic takes place chronologically after Practical Magic but is the fourth book in the series.  This story brings together many of the characters we’ve been reading about in the series.  Aunt Jet, Aunt Franny, Uncle Vincent, Sally and Gillian, and Sally’s children, Kylie and Antonia are all in this novel.  The novel starts out reacquainting the reader with the various characters and the history of the family. 

 Sally has never told her daughters that they are witches or about the Owens family curse on love.  Kylie falls in love with her childhood sweetheart.  Just after declaring their love, he is involved in a horrific accident.  Kylie decides it is up to her to remove this curse and bring him back to life out of his coma.  She embarks on a journey that takes her back to England where her ancestor Maria Owens was from originally.  As her family embarks on a journey to save her, will they be able to break the family curse once and for all?

 I enjoyed the conclusion in the series, but I am also a little sad that it has ended.  The story seemed to meander at times, but I was happy to see all of the characters and pieces of the story from previous novels comes back together again.  I love the characters and I love Hoffman’s style of writing. 

 Jennifer Ehle narrated the audiobook and did a wonderful job.  Jennifer Ehle was Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice.  I have loved her work as an actress, and I didn’t realize she narrated audiobooks now.  She did a wonderful job giving a voice to each character. 

 Overall, The Book of Magic was the perfect conclusion to the Practical Magic series.