Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

Published: 2020, Simon and Schuster

Genre: Fiction

Themes: Witchcraft in the 17th Century, trials of witches, herbal remedies

My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤

In this book we have a good old fashioned story. Something you could read aloud to your Nana without having to skim over a single word. Hurrah!

Set in the 1600s, this book is the prequal to Hoffman's previous novel, Practical Magic, but it stands up very well on its own and it is not necessary to read the books in the order they were written. The story begins with a new-born baby girl abandoned by her mother on a cold and frosty night. She is found and taken in by a good woman who lives alone in a remote house and it isn't long before the baby begins to demonstrate special powers that mark her out as an extraordinary child and probably a witch.

Witchcraft is the theme running through three generations in the book and the family story moves from Essex in England, over to the Netherlands, and ends up in America just in time to link up with the 1692 Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. Fortunately Hoffman puts the year at the start of the chapters because without that reference, and the historic date of the witch trials, I think we might struggle to remember which century the book is set in. The writing is more focused on the storyline than historical detail, but if that's what you are after you will need to stick with Hilary Mantel.

I was also a bit surprised at the level of maturity displayed by Maria, and later, her daughter Faith when they were still described as little girls. Would a six year old who has just witnessed the violent death of a loved one calmly accept being sent alone onto a cargo ship to start a new life in a foreign land? Would women flock to a nine year old to receive love potions and help with their love lives? Would a fourteen year girl be able to teach herself to read not only English but also Latin and Greek in a time when most people were illiterate and books had only just started to be published commercially?

But then, as I mentioned at the start, it's a story and we take it as we find it and overall I enjoyed it.

Comments

Violeta by Isabel Allende

Published: 2022, Bloomsbury Genre: Fiction Themes: South America, family relationships, business My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤ If I ever tell my life story, I will take a leaf out of Violeta's book and make sure you understand that everybody loved me, and despite all sorts of questionable behaviour on my part, I leave the world as a winner. This is the story of a hundred year life. Violeta is approaching the end, but before she goes she is determined to write out her life story for someone she loves dearly. You don't get to know who that special someone is for most of the book, but that just serves to give the narrative a little twist. I didn't much like the character of Violeta but I understand that people who don't go round upsetting the apple cart don't make for very interesting stories. With such a great time span to play with, Isabel Allende had plenty of scope for changing Violeta's circumstances and adding in references to world events to keep the reader...

Holding by Graham Norton

Published: October 2016, Hodder and Stoughton Genre: fiction Themes: Ireland, crime, secrets, relationships, family My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤ I went into the library looking for a book by Graham Norton as I keep seeing positive comments about his books on Twitter, and I felt I might be missing something. Holding seems to be his first book, and the library copy has a Radio 2 Book Club sticker on it, and I think it's fair to say that it's a perfect book for that reading group. It's a chatty style of writing that I could imagine would be how Graham would recount a tale if he was in conversation with someone, and there are sufficient strong elements to the plot-line to keep it interesting to the end. When I first started reading I thought it was going to be a bit thin on plot, as much of the story involved character descriptions, and I was starting to wonder how it was going to pull together. Then the dramatic events began to unfold and, once I could see how everyon...

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

Publisher: Head of Zeus, 2021 Genre: Fiction Themes: Ancient Pompeii, slaves, brothel My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤ If, like me, you spent most of your history lessons looking out the window and didn't really absorb very much about the ancient Roman Empire, nil desperandum, as you will still manage perfectly well with this book. Set in first century Pompeii, the story follows the life of Amara, a young Greek woman who has been shipped to Pompeii as a slave and then bought by the owner of The Wolf Den brothel. As the daughter of a doctor, she was bought up in relatively comfortable circumstances, but a series of terrible events turned her life upside down and she is now trapped in an endless cycle of fear and degradation with almost no hope of escape. Amara is one of a group of slaves working in the Wolf Den, and they do what they can to protect one another from serious harm, but Amara knows that if she wants anything better for herself, she must make the brothel ow...

dittybox

Search This Blog