Alice Hoffman
Alice Hoffman Says Goodbye to ‘Practical Magic’
In 1995, readers met sisters Sally and Gillian Owens, two young girls living with their aunts in a small Massachusetts town in an old house on Magnolia Street. Readers learn, quickly, that the Owens women “have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in town” for more than 200 years and that the Owens women have been cursed — the men who fall in love with them die early deaths. What results is a story of love, magic and sisterhood: “Practical Magic” by Alice Hoffman.
In 1998, Hoffman’s novel was adapted into a film starring Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing.
The film has since become a cult classic, and the love for the original novel has only grown over time.
After years of fans pleading for a sequel, in 2017, Hoffman decided to return to the magical world of the Owens women with a prequel. In 2020, she journeyed even further back in time to the story of Maria Owens — the woman who cursed her descendants — and now, in 2021, she’s finally delivering the conclusion to the story fans have so desperately wanted, telling the tale of Sally’s daughters, the aunts, and of course, Sally and Gillian themselves.
Hoffman is the author of over 30 works of fiction, including the four “Practical Magic” books. In honor of the release of “The Book of Magic,” the last in the series, I spoke with the Jewish author about the legacy of her “Practical Magic” series, writing about Jewish history and her everlasting love of books.
