Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic

Hoffman tells the story of Maria Owens, the ancestor of the women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic. It begins with Maria as an abandoned baby in 1600s England. She is taken in by Hannah Owens, a witch and healer. At Hannah’s side, Maria learns to harness her innate magic. A cruel twist of fate leads Maria to leave England for Curaçao, where she meets a man and falls in love. It is only after he leaves the island without a goodbye that she discovers she is pregnant. She follows him across the sea to Salem, MA, where she is tried as a witch and sets in motion the curse that will affect her family for generations. Sutton Foster expertly narrates all of the Owens women and the men in their lives, lending each a unique personality and voice. Hoffman paints a vivid and spellbinding picture of what life was like for women at this time, and of the hysteria that surrounded the idea of women as witches both in England and in the colonies.