In Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman, the story of Maria Owens is revealed as the matriarch of the Owens line that are characters in two earlier Hoffman books, Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic. Maria was abandoned in 1644 (1620 in another of the books) as a baby in England. She was found by Hannah Owens who taught her all she knew about “Unnamed Arts.” Her biological mother Rebecca houses Maria when Hannah turns her loose into the world but because of her birth father who is NOT Rebecca’s husband, Rebecca sends Maria half a world away to the West Indies.
Young Maria is taken advantage of by John Hathorne –
yes, that John Hathorne of the Salem Witch Trials -- and is left pregnant. She
seeks him by securing passage on a ship to Massachusetts, where he denies her
and his child. Because of her use of the herbs and such to help women in the
community, a jealous woman reports to the courts that Maria is a witch. Hathorne
would like nothing more than to solve his problem by having Maria drowned as a
witch.
The book is beautifully written, and the plot is one
that readers will want to read straight through. I am now primed to read the
other two books in this series.
Alice Hoffman writes short stories as well as novels.
Born in New York, Hoffman lives in Boston.
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