After writing the last books about the Owens family, Alice Hoffman takes us on another magical realism adventure in The Invisible Hour.
If you have ever declared your love for a long dead author or fictional character, this book is for you. I myself have my three favorite fictional loves and they are “Aragorn” (LOTR), Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles) and Shadow (American Gods). In this book, we meet Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of the book that most of us read in high school “The Scarlet Letter.” I will admit, my knowledge of this classic American author stops at that book and the little I learned from a college professor who did his dissertation on Hawthorne (but I only half paid attention). It is a delightful way to bring someone like Hawthorne alive and see him as a Man instead of some dead guy who wrote some cool stories.
Bringing Hawthorne to us, is Mia. A young woman who had a horrible childhood and found solace in Hawthorne’s words. It is his words that inspire her to make changes in her life.
I like Mia. Even as a child growing up in a very strict religious environment, she still asked questions. She never took an adult’s word as the absolute truth.
I do not want to give too much away, because I hate it when things are spoiled for me when I am reading, especially when a book came out just a few days ago. I will say this, if you are a long-time fan of Alice Hoffman and her work, not just the Practical Magic series, I think you will find some fun “easter egg” type of references in the book. Again, not spoiling, but if you know, you know.
If you are new to Hoffman or have only read her Practical Magic series, definitely check The Invisible Hour out along with “The Dovekeepers” and “The Museum of Extraordinary Things,” just to name two of my all-time favorite books by her that did not involve the Owens clan.