Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic book series has been enchanting readers for years. Full of vivid characters, fast-paced plots, plenty of witchery, and a centuries-old magical mystery, they're the kind of books that stand the test of time. The series' popularity soared further with the bewitching 1998 film adaption of Practical Magic, which has since become a spooky-season cult classic. But what is it that makes these stories so beloved and special? If you're new to the series or just in need of a refresher, read on to find out everything you need to know about the Owens family and the ancient curse that plagues them.
Who is Alice Hoffman?
Alice Hoffman is an American novelist and author of children's and young adult literature. Though she's best known for her Practical Magic book series, she's published more than 40 books, most of which have some elements of magic, and often focus on the lives of girls and women. The first Practical Magic novel, which came out in 1995, was actually her 11th book published! Her very first short story was published in a literary magazine when she was 21 and studying at Stanford. Her debut novel, Property Of, came out in 1977. In addition to dozens of adult and YA novels, she's authored several middle grade and picture books, as well as nonfiction and a collection of short stories. Her prolific career spans over 40 years; her most recent novel, The Invisible Hour, a romantic time-travel story about the power of words and stories, came out in 2023.
What is the Practical Magic series about?
The history of the enchanting, beloved Practical Magic book series is unusual in some ways: The first Practical Magic book came out in 1995, but it wasn't until more than 20 years later, in 2017, that Hoffman wrote another one. That second book, The Rules of Magic, is a prequel to the original novel, as is Magic Lessons, which came out in 2020. The only true sequel in the series, The Book of Magic, was released in 2021.
These four interconnected novels tell the story of the Owens family, a Massachusetts family beset with a centuries-old curse that leaves them unlucky in matters of love. Sisters Gillian and Sally Owens are introduced in Practical Magic, but they are part of a long line of women (and some men) who've been tangled up in magic and witchcraft since the 1600s. The series travels from a tiny English town, where matriarch Maria Owens was born in the 1600s; to New York City in the 1960s, where Susanna Owens tries to teach her unusual magical children a set of rules designed to keep them safe; to contemporary Western Massachusetts, where three generations of Owens women finally come together to break the curse once and for all.
The world of Practical Magic
The first book in the Practical Magic book series focuses on sisters Sally and Gillian Owens. After their parents die in an apparent accident, they go to live with their eccentric aunts in a small Massachusetts town. The aunts, Franny and Jet, have been blamed for everything that goes wrong in the town for years, and soon Sally and Gillian bear the brunt of that mistrust as well. They're constantly picked on at school and teased for being witches. They grow up watching their aunts cast spells and make love potions, and even after they discover their own magical abilities, they both long to get away and live their own lives. They choose to do so in very different ways, but fate draws them back together.
Narrator Christina Moore captures the unique personalities of both sisters with subtle shifts in voice and tone. Free-spirited Gillian runs away to California while Sally marries and settles down to raise two children as quietly as possible. Both their lives are thrown into turmoil when Sally's husband dies suddenly, and Gillian turns up on Sally's doorstep with the dead body of her boyfriend in her car. Though it's been years since they lived in the same state, the sisters are still close and together begin to unravel the ancient curse that has plagued the women in their family since the 1600s.
Magic Lessons is the first of two Practical Magic prequels that explore the backstory of the Owens family. Magic Lessons is a great place to start if you're new to the series. This is the story of Maria Owens, the matriarch of the Owens family and the woman who instigated the curse that has plagued them for centuries. Tony Award-winning actor Sutton Foster's narration is dripping with lush magic. She's particularly good at describing Maria's spell-casting, and her dramatic renditions of dialogue add to the inherent tension of the story.
In the early 1600s, Maria is abandoned as a baby in rural England. She's raised by Hannah Owens, who immediately sees that Maria has a special gift. She teaches her all about magic, otherwise known as the "Nameless Acts," and about love. Maria learns Hannah's cardinal rule early on: Only love people who love you back. When, as a young woman, Maria is abandoned by the man she loves, she follows him to Salem, Massachusetts, desperately hoping to win him back. Instead, she unleashes the curse that will haunt the Owens family for generations and ends up being accused of witchcraft.
Seasoned narrator Marin Ireland brings a smooth, lyrical performance to The Rules of Magic, a second prequel, which takes place hundreds of years after Magic Lessons, in 1960s New York City. It links the ancient history of the Owens family to the more recent history of the Owens aunts, focusing on their mother, Susanna, and their childhood alongside their brother, Vincent. Susanna has always known that witchy magic runs in her blood, and she knows her three children have the same unusual powers she does. Franny is the difficult one; her sister, Jet, has the uncanny ability to read people's thoughts; and their brother, Vincent, is the resident troublemaker. Attempting to keep her children safe, Susanna concocts an intricate series of rules about what they can and cannot do. Supreme among these rules is the directive never to fall in love.
It's not until Franny, Jet, and Vincent visit their aunt in a small Massachusetts town that they begin to understand the true magnitude of their family legacy—and just how dangerous it will be to escape it. Returning to New York with the new knowledge of where they come from, and the secrets their mother has kept from them their whole lives, the three siblings set out on separate paths in an attempt to trick, or at least delay, their destiny.
The breathtaking final installment of the series is the first true sequel to Practical Magic, set years after the events of the 1995 novel. At long last, three generations of the Owens family come together to heal their long-standing rifts and break the curse that has been haunting them since long before any of them can remember. Jennifer Ehle is the perfect narrator for this masterful conclusion to a beloved series. She swings easily among a variety of accents and depicts each of the Owens family members—from the oldest to the youngest—with unique voices.
When Jet Owens notices an ominous portent, she senses she only has a week left to live. In the days that follow, Jet, her niece Sally, Sally's daughter Kylie, Jet's long-missing brother Vincent, and the rest of the Owens family rush halfway around the world as they work to break the curse before it is too late. They travel from Massachusetts to Paris, London, and the tiny English town where Maria Owens first used magic. As long-held secrets are revealed and old rivalries put to rest, three generations of the Owens family finally come to understand what Maria learned hundreds of years earlier: that love is the most important thing.
Practical Magic on the big screen
The first novel published, Practical Magic, was adapted into a film in 1998, directed by Griffin Dunne and starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as the sisters Sally and Gillian Owens. Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing star as Jet and Frances Owens, the aunts who raise Sally and Gillian after their parents are killed by the notorious Owens curse that dooms the men Owens women love to death. The film also stars Goran Višnjić as Gillian's abusive boyfriend, whom the sisters kill twice—once in self-defense, and once again in self-defense only after they've successfully revived him from the dead. Finally, Aidan Quinn stars as a state investigator, Gary Hallet, whom Sally falls in love with, despite her best efforts to avoid falling in love and, thus, the fatal curse.
The film received lukewarm reviews upon its release but has gained a cult following in the years since. Its continued popularity may be one of the reasons behind the buzzy forthcoming sequel, announced in June 2024. Bullock and Kidman will co-produce alongside Denise Di Novi, and will also reprise their original roles as Sally and Gillian. Akiva Goldsman, who co-wrote the screenplay for the 1998 film, will also be writing the sequel. Though details of the film's plot are not yet known, it will follow the timeline of Alice Hoffman's novel The Book of Magic, which is set in the present day and features characters from the younger generation, including Sally's daughter Kylie.
