This is the book that inspired that famous movie - Practical Magic, the story of the Owens sisters, Gillian and Sally, and their aunts. The book, like Alice Hoffman's others about children (The Story Sisters, The Rules of Magic), has a fantasy element that will delight and surprise, although this also focuses on their grown up lives.
“There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.”
“No one knows you like a person with whom you've shared a childhood. No one will ever understand you in quite the same way.”
It's also about love - is it ever everlasting?
“Avoid men who call you Baby, and women who have no friends, and dogs that scratch at their bellies and refuse to lie down at your feet. Wear dark glasses; bathe with lavender oil and cool fresh water. Seek shelter from the sun at noon.”
It's also about sisters - the bonds, the fights, the rivalry and the constancy. It's deep, and real and beautiful and precious.
“No one knows you like a person with whom you've shared a childhood. No one will ever understand you in quite the same way.”
It's also about love - is it ever everlasting?
“Avoid men who call you Baby, and women who have no friends, and dogs that scratch at their bellies and refuse to lie down at your feet. Wear dark glasses; bathe with lavender oil and cool fresh water. Seek shelter from the sun at noon.”
It's beautifully written, and plotted, and has magic on every page.
You'l love it for that - its whimsy and playfulness, yet truth shimmers underneath, and has the power to break hearts and heal them at the same time.
ISBN: 9780425168462
You may also enjoy The Story Sisters by the same author, or The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle.