Review by Booklist Review
Hoffman concluded her Practical Magic series with The Book of Magic (2021), but she continues to explore the ravishing Massachusetts countryside and the haunting legacy of the Puritans. Rebellious Boston teenager Ivy, a passionate reader, runs away after becoming pregnant. She ends up at the Community in the Berkshires, a dystopian cult ruled by a charismatic tyrant, Joel, who forbids the reading of books. Ivy's daughter, Mia, is also brave and book-hungry. She finds sanctuary in the town's library and a friend in the librarian, but no one can protect Mia from Joel until she finds a startling escape hatch: a first edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's A Scarlet Letter. Hoffman summons all of her extraordinary storytelling magic to whisk us back to Hawthorne's world, turning our ardor for books into a force that transcends time, our love for authors into something truly erotic. As she contrasts women's lives past and present and considers the mysterious compulsions to write and read, Hoffman's fresh and evocative time-travel tale becomes a lush and suspenseful homage to the transporting and lifesaving power of books.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Hoffman's bewitchment always draws readers, who will deeply appreciate this imaginative and timely assertion of women's rights and celebration of books, libraries, and the freedom to read.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Hoffman (the Practical Magic series) keeps up her flair for the fantastical with this enchanting tale of a woman and her daughter living in an oppressive modern-day commune, where they find comfort in books. Ivy Jacob's ever-disappointed mother and stern father react badly to news of her teen pregnancy, prompting her to run away from her tony Boston home for Western Massachusetts, where she's embraced by a group called The Community. There, she gives birth to her daughter, Mia, and marries the group's charismatic but controlling leader, Joel, when Mia is three months old. The Community's rules are draconian--members are branded with letters corresponding to their alleged crimes--and eventually the abuse weighs on Ivy's conscience. At 16, Mia secretly takes out books from a nearby library (education and reading are forbidden after members turn 15), and she tries to convince her mother to join her in an escape. Alternate chapters portray Nathaniel Hawthorne's writing life in the mid-19th century, and a series of time-traveling twists illuminate Hawthorne's inspiration for The Scarlet Letter, Mia's favorite book. Though the evil Joel is a bit one-dimensional, the portrayal of Hawthorne is credible and the conceit feels truly magical. For the most part, Hoffman manages not to break the spell. Agent: Amanda Urban: ICM Partners. (Aug.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Hoffman (The Book of Magic) again brings a touch of the otherworldly to serious issues in a novel opening with Ivy Jacob's flight from her tony Boston home when she becomes pregnant. Finding refuge at a Western Massachusetts commune, she immediately comes under the control of Joel, the commune's leader. He allows commune members no personal possessions, not even books, and he denies them families of their own, administering punishments to those who disobey. Ivy knows she has made a mistake but cannot leave, and daughter Mia grows up at the commune, chafing at the rules. Mia secretly goes to the town library, where she finds a copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter with an inexplicable dedication to her on the flyleaf. When Ivy is killed in a freak accident, Mia decides that it's time to escape, but Joel still stalks her. One magical day, she is transported to 1837 and meets Hawthorne, encouraging him to write the book that will save her life more than a century later. VERDICT Hoffman's integrated storylines effectively highlight the subjugation of women throughout time, with results that will appeal to a wide range of fiction readers.--Joanna M. Burkhardt
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
In this story of a young woman's attempt to control her destiny, Hoffman combines a paean to reading and books--specifically one book--with time-travel fantasy. Fifteen-year-old Mia Jacob lives unhappily in the Community, a modern-day cult in western Massachusetts, where women who fail to obey the rigid rules set by despotic leader Joel Davis must wear letters around their necks or branded on their arms. (Sound familiar?) Mia's mother, Ivy, who came to the Community as a pregnant, runaway teen and reluctantly married Joel, now secretly encourages Mia's small rebellions, steering her to read books, an activity Joel made Ivy abandon. Mia becomes obsessed with The Scarlet Letter after finding a first edition mysteriously inscribed "To Mia." After Ivy's death, Mia escapes the Community. Under the tutelage of Constance Allen and Sarah Mott, a loving couple of lesbian librarians in Concord (where Hawthorne is buried), she finishes growing up and becomes a librarian herself, although Joel continues hounding her. One day, while visiting Hawthorne's grave, she makes a wish that she could meet the author. Poof! At its midpoint, Hoffman's novel transforms from a relatively realistic story of female empowerment and the spiritual/psychological magic of reading into pure fantasy. Mia finds herself transported to 1837 Salem. Hawthorne, a struggling young writer whose book Twice-Told Tales has recently been a commercial flop, finds Mia asleep in the grass. She lamely announces, "I came from another time only to meet you," and they fall rapturously in love, but the inevitable time-travel question arises: If she stays with him, will she alter history? Mia recognizes that The Scarlet Letter is her life story; if the book did not exist, would she? Hoffman makes Nathaniel dreamily appealing and creates a riveting voice for his sister Elizabeth, whose brilliance is thwarted by the times in which she lives, but Mia is more author's puppet than character, and Hoffman's worthy message concerning women's rights feels repetitive and ultimately didactic. More important, the realism and fantasy never quite jibe. Not one of Hoffman's best, but it may spark a desire to reread Hawthorne. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
