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    The Rules of Magic: A Novel
    The Rules of Magic: A Novel
    The Rules of Magic: A Novel
    Ebook404 pages7 hours

    The Rules of Magic: A Novel

    By Alice Hoffman

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    About this ebook

    An instant New York Times bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick from beloved author Alice Hoffman—the spellbinding prequel to Practical Magic.

    Find your magic.

    For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.

    Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.

    From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Yet, the children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the memorable aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.

    Alice Hoffman delivers “fairy-tale promise with real-life struggle” (The New York Times Book Review) in a story how the only remedy for being human is to be true to yourself. Thrilling and exquisite, real and fantastical, The Rules of Magic is “irresistible…the kind of book you race through, then pause at the last forty pages, savoring your final moments with the characters” (USA TODAY, 4/4 stars).
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtria Books
    Release dateOct 10, 2017
    ISBN9781501137495
    Author

    Alice Hoffman

    Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The Book of Magic, Magic Lessons, The World That We Knew, Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic (a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick), the Oprah’s Book Club Selection Here on Earth, The Red Garden, The Dovekeepers, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, The Marriage of Opposites, and Faithful. She lives near Boston.

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    Reviews for The Rules of Magic

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    • 5/5
      The enchanting story of a family legacy and how each person fights against it. This is a prequel to Practical Magic, which was made into a movie. The Owens family curse is revealed from its beginning. Hoffman weaves magic realism into a seamless creation. Haunting. Eloquent.
    • 5/5
      I will admit, I have not read Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, and I am not a fan of books or television series about witches. Except for Bewitched, which I loved, but I was eleven years old then. Consequently, I did not know what to expect when the publisher offered me The Rules of Magic based on my having read the author's previous historical novel The Marriage of Opposites, imagining the marriage of the artist Camille Pissarro's parents. Based on the last mentioned book alone, I have collected quite a few Hoffman books now languishing on my TBR shelves!What happened was unexpected, for I was instantly in love with Hoffman's language and The Rules of Magic characters. Although the novel is about three teenagers struggling with the powers and limitations of having magical abilities, it is really about universal themes: the power of love, and how we must love regardless of the costs, and that we must embrace who we are. Franny, Jet, and Vincent are complex characters burdened with the knowledge that they are cursed to bring destruction to the men they love. As they grew up, their parents tried to protect them from self-knowledge, but they recognized they were not like other children. "It's for your own good," her mother told Franny. "Wha makes you think that's what I want?" Franny counters."What is meant to be is bound to happen," and in 1960 the children's lives change when they visit their Aunt Isabella, a contact that "inflame[s] characteristics" which were "currently dormant." And over the summer each child learns their genealogy, their abilities, and about the curse and joy of love.The book was a joy to read, lovely and moving. I felt a deep connection to the characters.The Rules of Magic is a prequel to Practical Magic, telling the backstory of Frances and Jet who accept their brother's granddaughter into their home. I found I did not need to know the previous book to understand and enjoy this one; it stands on its own, and without any tedious linkage to the other book.I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
    • 5/5
      Love is a curse in the Owens family. Vincent, Franny and Jet were taught by their mother to always follow a very particular set of rules. After visiting their aunt for the summer, they know there is a curse on their family - that loving sentences the ones they love to death.
    • 3/5
      Seems like my book clubs keep choosing books on magical realism, of which I am generally not a fan. In spite of that, I succumbedto the tyranny of the book club to read not one, but two Alice Hoffman novels this year (so far). And I like them both. The Rules of Magic is a story about three siblings: Franny, Bidget (Jet) and Vincent who are witches. But they are also real people, with hopes and fears and relationships. I think I'd describe this novel more as realistic magic rather than magical realism. Great character development and a good story, too.
    • 5/5
      Although this is a prequel, I read this novel after reading Practical Magic, and I think it works great that way. It’s the sort of novel where knowing something of the ending won’t hurt the beginning at all, as times and fortunes intertwine.Three children of the sixties—a perfect time for magic—have grown up under curious rules, and know they must never fall in love. But love—especially in the sixties—has a way of working around the rules, and around reality.The Rules of Magic is a wonderful, absorbing tale of relationships, dreams and hopes, a tale of its times, and a tale for all times. It’s a haunting story with hauntingly real characters, that curious touch of otherworldliness, and evocative, sensual delights of time, place, plant and memory—the sort of book you really can’t put down. And it’s a search for love… which perhaps is the strongest of magics.Disclosure: I got it for Christmas and I love it.
    • 4/5
      This is a thorn bush of a book, it's spiky prose often impeding smooth passage through the pages. But I must have become attached to Jet, Franny and even the too charming Vincent to have kept going, at the point of tears almost all the way through. Of all the versions of of the trope of witches not being able to love, this is quite the most touching and real feeling.
    • 5/5
      It's been 15 years since I read Practical Magic, but I was curious to learn more about the Owens family. This book focuses on Franny and Jet, the aunts who care for the main characters in Practical Magic. We start with their teenage years in NYC where they are raised with their brother Vincent. The book was captivating with great character growth woven into a dramatic plot. Tragedy marks the lives of the talented Owens family, but it's their connections to others that are the most fascinating. “When you truly love someone and they love you in return, you ruin your lives together. That is not a curse, it’s what life is." “Life is a mystery, and it should be so, for the sorrow that accompanies being human and the choices one will have to make are a burden."
    • 5/5
      I absolutely loved this book. I had read Practical Magic a handful of months before, and I enjoyed it well enough. This book, the prequel to Practical Magic, was even better, although my love for it might have also been impacted by my reading in at the very start of summer, when everything described in that book is what I have been feeling and can easily imagine. I loved all the descriptions of the places, characters, and events (and especially the little lines of "witch-related" descriptions - things to brew, who for, etc.). This book was really a magical book especially to read in the beginning of the summer season.
    • 4/5
      Wonderful, fun little quick read story filled with magic and love.Another great read by Alice Hoffman- she hasn’t disappointed me yet!
    • 4/5
      Bordering on fantasy, this almost realistic magic about a family ofwitches with a love curse is not my cuppa tea. The siblings don’t want to fall in love lest their true love die an untimely death.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed Practical Magic years ago, so I was excited to read the prequel, The Rules of Magic. It’s wonderful as a stand alone, but having seen the movie Practical Magic, I had a vision of the family home in Massachusetts and how the relatives might look and dress.In The Rules of Magic, readers are introduced to Franny, Jet and Vincent Owens. The three siblings are close in age and all share special gifts, such as reading people’s thoughts and being unable to sink in water. They descend from a long line of Owens witches and are avoided by most people in the community.This is more or less a coming of age story of the siblings, but it also follows them into their adult lives as they discover who they are and the importance of being true to themselves.This is a wonderful October/Halloween read with witches and curses that are presented in a light-hearted way. After I finished reading, I had an overwhelming urge to watch Practical Magic--again!I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.
    • 5/5
      I thought this one was better than "Practical Magic," which is really saying something. Hoffman is a lovely stylist, and, aside from being a very good addition to the Owens' story, this is a beautiful book in its own right.
    • 4/5
      The story was not what I expected. I was hoping for more magic and which craft, I guess. Overall an excellent story and I enjoyed Alice Hoffman's writing style. I look forward to reading Practical Magic, the first book in the series.
    • 5/5
      The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman; (4 1/2*)This novel of several generations of magically 'gifted' women pulled me right in and enraptured me. While I loved Franny & Jet, the main characters, I found the secondary characters were at least as interesting and in some cases even more so. Cases in point, the old caretaker of their aunt's house, the Reverend who was so at odds with Jet in the beginning and whose heart changed over the span of the novel, the aunt.....oh yes, the aunt, the very fascinating brother, Vincent, and even the animals.I simply love Alice Hoffman. She is my favorite contemporary author. I love how she grows her characters and I find her masterful at both the novel and the short story. I hope she continues to write for a very long time.
    • 4/5
      An absolutely bewitching novel! I have not read Practical Magic, and will now probably do so. The book in enchanting and you absolutely fall in love with Franny, Jet and Vincent and all of the other characters in their lives.This book in so charming and draws you right in.
    • 5/5
      Let me start by saying that I did NOT read Practical Magic or see the movie. I will definitely be changing that, soon.

      I loved this book! It made me laugh right out loud and then it made me cry like a baby. I loved the subtle and then not so subtle hints of magic throughout the book.

      I recommend this to anyone and everyone that likes a book to be entertaining, depth of characters and just well written.

      My thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for this advanced readers copy.
    • 5/5
      The prequel to Practical Magic is a wonderful story written with all the whimsy and loving choice of words that Alice Hoffman puts into all her books. Frannie, Jet, and Vincent Owens are siblings living in New York City in the 1960s. When Frannie turns age seventeen, they all go to the house in Massachusetts owned by their great-aunt Isabelle to receive their heritage as descended from a long line of witches. Here they learn of the family curse: any man who loves an Owens is doomed. The story concentrates on their younger lives but does follow through to their older years where Sally and Gillian from Practical Magic are introduced. It touches on people, songs, books, and events that were also a part of my own life. The Viet Nam War takes place with significant impact on the Owens family. As the Frannie and Jet age, the story also touches on women's independence (though the Owens girls have always been independent). I loved this quote:"Many of them began to wonder why they themselves often feigned opinions rather than speak their minds, no matter how clever they were, for fear they'd be thought of as difficult."And all through the story are touches of magic. There are spells and herbs, love potions and charms.The main thrust of the story is family and how people are tied together. The Owens siblings are always there for each other even when they disagree, and they're willing to care for the rest of their family.Practical Magic is such a great book that one wonders if a prequel could do it justice, but The Rules of Magic is just as excellent.
    • 3/5
      This book just wasn't like her previous ones. Didn't flow and was ridiculous. Didn't even finish.
    • 2/5
      I'm on a trip and grabbed this book having just started it. Ugh. Not my genre. Forcing myself to read it due to lack of other material. I'm sure people who love this type of story enjoyed it thoroughly.
    • 4/5
      A fun read about a magical family and the curse they all must live with. I really enjoyed the first half of the book - as a group of siblings discovered their magical abilities and started to experiment with them. But after their parents suddenly died, this book got harder for me to get though (although not necessarily in a bad way). I made it through, and I did like the book's conclusion, wrapping up most of the storylines neatly while also opening the door to more.
    • 4/5
      Themes of the fear and dangers of love, mixed with the rewards that come from diving in anyway, were a brilliant backdrop for the story of a lineage of powerful and magical women.Some lines were beautifully written, and made me pause to absorb them completely. However, there were other times where I felt bored with the writing and simply wanted the next act.Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the writing style was the lack of any sense of time I had about the character's lives on a day-to-day or seasonal basis. I found myself trying to calendar out the story a couple of times, wondering how much time had passed.As a testament to how your brain processes time when dealing with love and loss, I was able to appreciate this aspect of storytelling rather than getting frustrated by it.
    • 4/5
      This is another wonderful read by Alice Hoffman. The story of the three Owens siblings is both realistic and fantastic, but it will leave you believing in possibilities. It has similar qualities to the Harry Potter series with children learning to live in a world where magic is both strange and normal. Much of the magic is both practical and helpful. The bigger part of the story though is the lives of the characters. Due to an old curse, no one in the Owens family is able to fall in love without causing harm to the one they love. This brings about all kinds of conflict and situational problems for the three young people. Much of the story is delightful and a joy to read, but this curse obviously brings many relational issues and sad developments to the book.This book is a prequel to "Practical Magic", but it does not seem necessary to have read or seen that movie to enjoy "The Rules of Magic". It is a magical and captivating story that will appeal to most readers.My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.
    • 4/5
      I had a hard time getting interested in the book but once I did it was a good read. I am not always into "witch" or fantasy stories but this book was more that. It was a good read and I did not read Practical Magic first.
    • 2/5
      It is not necessary to read "Practical Magic" before reading this book. However, I did read it and that should have been a warning to me that "The Rules of Magic" wasn't going to be a good match for me. I don't like witches (and there was magic on almost every page) and I don't care for romance novels. I wasn't having a good time so I abandoned this book, but magic and whimsy lovers should enjoy it. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.
    • 5/5
      Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic was the story how the two young Owens sisters, Gillian and Sally came to live with their elderly aunts, Franny and Jet. The Rules of Magic, published almost fifteen years after the first novel, is a sequel telling the story of the two aunts and their younger brother, Vincent, all witches growing up in the latter years of the 1950s. All were descendant from their original descendant, Maria Owens, who was the source of a family curse, which was that any witch who fell in love would doom whomever that was to an early death.When I pick up a novel that is either a sequel or prequel to an original, I do so with trepidation fearing that the second work will pale in comparison. I was please that this book was a worthy companion to Practical Magic, which was my entrance into this author and the magical realism genre. I rated each five stars. If you have not read Practical Magic, you will have no problem reading this novel first. In fact, if you have not read Practical Magic, you might find it more enjoyable to read The Rules of Magic first.
    • 3/5
      Practical Magic is one of my favorite books. How could I not like the prequel, which filled in some of those blanks? It's now almost 2 weeks out after finishing the book, and unfortunately I can't remember some of the finer points I wanted to indicate in my notes, but suffice it to say that though it didn't captivate me the way the first book did, I still liked it.
    • 4/5
      Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Net Galley for providing me with an e-copy of The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman in exchange for an honest review. This book is the prequel to Practical Magic. Since the 1600s, the Owens family has been feared and mistrusted. In Massachusetts, one of the ancestors had been charged with loving the wrong man. In the 1950s, Susanna Owens, a descendant, moves to New York to raise her three children away from the Owens' reputation and away from the curse forbidding them from falling in love. It becomes obvious that Franny, Jet and Vincent cannot deny their heritage. From the beginning, the children exhibit signs of eccentricity and witchcraft. And as they grow older, they try everything to prevent falling in love. But it is not meant to be. The novel deals with each sibling avoiding love until their heart leads them to do the opposite and also deals with the consequences of the curse. The Rules of Magic is surreal and yet so real in many ways. It is a fairy tale for adults and I thoroughly enjoyed every word. Well written and captivating.
    • 5/5
      I love reading anything by Alice Hoffman, so I was so excited to get an advance e-copy of this book. Once again, Alice Hoffman will not disappoint. I have not read Practical Magic yet. You do NOT have to read that book first to enjoy this prequel. Of course, now that I have finished this one, I cannot wait to read Practical Magic.This story takes place in 1960's NYC and also in Massachusetts. Franny, Jet and Vincent are all Owens children/teenagers which means they have the bloodline of witches in them. On Franny's seventeen birthday she is invited to her Aunt Isabelle's home in MA. Their mother has tried to keep them from learning about their heritage, but fate is not to be deterred. As the three Owens children learn about the curse that will destroy anyone they love, we journey through a beautifully atmospheric tale of love, loss and family. I highly recommend this book to everyone. I received an e-copy from Netgalley.com
    • 5/5
      The Owens family has always been different. Their mother tried to protect them from that knowledge, but there is only so much you can do to hide your children's own abilities from them. Franny called birds, Jet could see, Vincent was Vincent and had a splash of darkness in him, that he always seemed to try to outrun. Charming and powerful even as a fourteen year old, all of them were special. The summons came one day when Franny turned 17, that she was to go to visit her Aunt Isabelle, in Massachusetts. Their mother, Susanna was distressed by the call, but it was a tradition for each of the young women in the family to make this visit when they reached that age. This time, the three of them went together, to meet their Aunt, and to finally figure out who they were. Then their lives begin to unfold. I love Hoffman's books, each and every one. Magical realism and the tugs and tragedies of real life in each and every one. This one is a favorite now, but I say that each time a new one comes out. Each stands alone, and each makes you part of the story, so that you hate to reach the last page. The Rules of Magic is no different.
    • 4/5
      This book. This series. Wow. Incredible.

      I love watching this family grow and learning more about how the magic works. the world building is some of the best I've ever had occasion to read. Franny and Jet are fabulous. Fair warning though there is some talk of interrelation.

      Imagery and lore are so on point. These books may just soothe the soul in these ridiculously tough times. I love knowing more about the characters that informed my favorite Halloween film. I have new appreciation for certain aspects.

    Book preview

    The Rules of Magic - Alice Hoffman

    Cover: The Rules of Magic, by Alice Hoffman

    Irresistible. –USA Today (****)

    Logo: Reese’s Book Club

    Logo: Book Club Favorites Reader’s Guide

    The Rules of Magic

    A Novel

    New York Times Bestseller

    Alice Hoffman

    Author of Practical Magic and The Book of Magic

    PRAISE FOR

    The Rules of Magic
    The New York Times bestselling prequel to Practical Magic

    BY ALICE HOFFMAN

    "Hoffman has conjured up another irresistible novel in The Rules of Magic. This is the kind of book you race through, then pause at the last forty pages, savoring your final moments with the characters."

    —USA Today (4/4 Stars)

    [T]his is a novel that begins with the words, ‘Once upon a time,’ and its strength is a Hoffman hallmark: the commingling of fairy-tale promise with real-life struggle. The Owens children can’t escape who they are. Like the rest of us, they have to figure out the best way to put their powers to use.

    —The New York Times Book Review

    "In this prequel to Practical Magic, Hoffman, a master of magical realism, draws us back into the spellbinding universe of the Owens family with gorgeous prose set against a backdrop of vivid imagery."

    —Marie Claire

    "The story unfolds in romantic and magical ways against the backdrop of the 1960s, with the Stonewall riot, LSD in Central Park, Bob Dylan, and Vietnam all making appearances. Hoffman will keep you guessing until the very end of the book how the Practical Magic generation fits in, a clever, heartbreaking finale."

    —Newsday

    "Hoffman delights in this prequel to Practical Magic as three siblings discover both the power and curse of their magic.… Hoffman’s novel is a coming-of-age tale replete with magic and historical references to the early witch trials. The spellbinding story, focusing on the strength of family bonds through joy and sorrow, will appeal to a broad range of readers. Fans of Practical Magic will be bewitched."

    —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

    Hoffman weaves a spell… Readers who enjoy a little magic mixed in with their love stories… will relish this book.

    —Library Journal

    It’s clear why Hoffman is a favorite for fantasy readers: She creates interesting mythologies; she’s able to weave magic into the modern world; and she alludes to the magical properties of herbs and everyday items without overexplaining them and overcomplicating her narratives.

    —BookPage

    "Reading [The Rules of Magic] was like being caught in a current, floating along with a river’s twists and turns, glimpsing familiarity and difference in varied measure before tumbling into something like the sea. I kept reading, not because I wanted to reach the end, but because I wanted to dwell in the honey-light of Hoffman’s words. I wanted to hold these characters’ hands.… Hoffman’s prose is as tender, dreamy and sweet as ever, laced with the sting of vinegar and broken glass."

    —NPR Books

    "Just in time for Halloween, Alice Hoffman brings us back to the world of the Owens family, whom we first met in Practical Magic. It’s a world where magic exists and love is a curse. The Rules of Magic will transport you. An utter delight."

    —Popsugar (Best 2017 Fall Books)

    "[The Rules of Magic is] a novel readers didn’t know they were waiting for until it arrived."

    —Bustle

    No one’s more confident or entertaining than Hoffman at putting across characters willing to tempt fate for true love. Real events like the Vietnam draft and Stonewall uprising enter the characters’ family history as well as a stunning plot twist—delivering everything fans of a much-loved book could hope for in a prequel.

    —Kirkus Reviews

    "Reading an Alice Hoffman book is like falling into a deep dream where senses are heightened and love reigns supreme. The Rules of Magic is no exception—as I tumbled into the story of three siblings desperate for and cursed by love, I never wanted to awaken."

    —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things

    CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

    The Rules of Magic, by Alice Hoffman, Marysue Rucci Books

    There is no remedy for love but to love more.

    —HENRY DAVID THOREAU

    PART ONE

    Intuition

    Once upon a time, before the whole world changed, it was possible to run away from home, disguise who you were, and fit into polite society. The children’s mother had done exactly that. Susanna was one of the Boston Owenses, a family so old that the General Society of Mayflower Descendants and the Daughters of the American Revolution were unable to deny them admission to their exclusive organizations, despite the fact that they would have liked to close the door to them, locking it twice. Their original ancestor, Maria Owens, who had arrived in America in 1680, remained a mystery, even to her own family. No one knew who had fathered her child or could fathom how she came to build such a fine house when she was a woman alone with no apparent means of support. The lineage of those who followed Maria was equally dubious. Husbands disappeared without a trace. Daughters begat daughters. Children ran off and were never seen again.

    In every generation there were those who fled Massachusetts, and Susanna Owens had done so. She had escaped to Paris as a young woman, then had married and settled in New York, denying her children any knowledge of their heritage for their own good, which left them with nagging suspicions about who they were. It was clear from the start that they were not like other children, therefore Susanna felt she had no choice but to set down rules. No walking in the moonlight, no Ouija boards, no candles, no red shoes, no wearing black, no going shoeless, no amulets, no night-blooming flowers, no reading novels about magic, no cats, no crows, and no venturing below Fourteenth Street. Yet no matter how Susanna tried to enforce these rules, the children continued to thwart her. They insisted upon being unusual. Eldest was Frances, with skin as pale as milk and blood-red hair, who early on had the ability to commune with birds, which flocked to her window as if called when she was still in her crib. Then came Bridget, called Jet due to her inky black tresses, a girl as shy as she was beautiful, who seemed to know what others were thinking. Last there was Vincent, the adored youngest child, a surprise in every way, the first and only boy to be born into the family, a gifted musician who whistled before he could talk, so charismatic and fearless his worried mother took to keeping him on a leash when he was a toddler, to prevent him from making an escape.

    The children grew up quickly in the last years of the 1950s, their odd behavior increasing with time. They had no desire to play games and no interest in other children at the park. They sneaked out the windows of the family’s shabby town house on Eighty-Ninth Street on the Upper East Side after their parents went to bed, cavorting on the roof, scurrying down fire escapes, and, as time went on, wandering into Central Park at all hours. They wrote with black ink on the living room walls, read each other’s thoughts, and hid in the basement scullery, where their mother could never find them. As if it were their duty, they broke the rules one by one. Franny wore black and grew night-blooming jasmine on her windowsill, Jet read every novel written by E. Nesbit and fed stray cats in the alley, and Vincent began to venture downtown by the time he turned ten.

    All three had the gray eyes the family was known for, but the sisters were opposites in every way. Frances was sulky and suspicious, while Jet was kindhearted and so sensitive that a negative remark could make her break into hives. Jet was fashionable, following in her mother’s stylish footsteps, but Frances was usually rumpled, her hair left uncombed. She was happiest when her boots were muddy as she navigated the park, wandering through Sheep Meadow. Her gift with wild birds allowed her to bring them to her merely by lifting her hand. From a distance, when she ran so fast she was nearly flying, it seemed as if she spoke their language, and was meant for their world more than her own.

    As for Vincent, he possessed such an unearthly charm that only hours after his birth a nurse in the maternity ward of Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital had tucked him into her coat in a failed kidnapping attempt. During her trial she’d told the court that the abduction was not her fault. She’d been spellbound, unable to resist him. As time went on, this wasn’t an unusual complaint. Vincent was spoiled rotten, treated by Jet as though he were a baby doll and by Frances as if he were a science experiment. If you pinched him, Frances wondered, would he cry? If you offered him a box of cookies, would he make himself sick by eating every one? Yes, it turned out, and yes again. When Vincent misbehaved, which was often, Frances made up stories filled with punishments for little boys who would not do as they were told, not that her cautionary tales stopped him. All the same, she was his protector and remained so even when he was far taller than she.

    The school they attended was despised by all three children, though Susanna Owens had worked hard at getting them accepted, throwing cocktail parties for the board of the Starling School at the family’s town house. Though their home was ramshackle due to a lack of funds—their father, a psychiatrist, insisted on seeing many of his patients gratis—the place never failed to impress. Susanna staged the parlor for school gatherings with silver trays and silk throw pillows, bought for the event and then returned to Tiffany and Bendel the very next day. Starling was a snobby, clannish establishment with a guard stationed at the front door at Seventy-Eighth Street. Uniforms were required for all students, although Franny regularly hitched up her gray skirt and rolled down the scratchy kneesocks, leaving her freckled legs bare. Her red hair curled in humid weather and her skin burned if she was in the sun for more than fifteen minutes. Franny stood out in a crowd, which irritated her no end. She was tall, and continued to grow until finally in fifth grade she reached the dreaded six-foot mark. She had always had especially long, coltish arms and legs. Because of this her gawky stage lasted for ten years, from the time she was a glum kindergartener, who was taller than any of the boys, until she turned fifteen. Often she wore red boots, bought at a secondhand store. Strange girl, was written in her records. Perhaps psychological testing is needed?

    The sisters were outsiders at school, with Jet an especially easy target. Her classmates could make her cry with a nasty note or a well-aimed shove. When she began hiding in the girls’ bathroom for most of the day, Franny swiftly interceded. Soon enough the other students knew not to irritate the Owens sisters, not if they didn’t want to trip over their own shoes or find themselves stuttering when called upon to give a report. There was something about the sisters that felt dangerous, even when all they were doing was eating tomato sandwiches in the lunchroom or searching for novels in the library. Cross them and you came down with the flu or the measles. Rile them and you’d likely be called to the principal’s office, accused of cutting classes or cheating. Frankly, it was best to leave the Owens sisters alone.

    Franny’s only friend was Haylin Walker, who was taller than she by three inches and equally antisocial. He was a legacy doomed to be a Starling student from the moment of his birth. His grandparents had donated the athletic building, Walker Hall, dubbed Hell Hall by Franny, who despised sports. In sixth grade Hay had staged a notorious protest, chaining himself to the dessert rack in the lunchroom to demand better wages for workers in the cafeteria. Franny admired his grit even though the other students simply watched wide-eyed, refusing to join in when Haylin began chanting Equality for all!

    After the janitor apologetically cut through the chains with a hacksaw, Haylin was given a good talking-to by the headmaster and made to write a paper about workers’ rights, which he considered a privilege rather than a punishment. He was obligated to write ten pages, and handed in a tome of nearly fifty pages instead, duly footnoted, quoting from Thomas Paine and FDR. He couldn’t wait for the next decade. Everything would change in the sixties, he told Franny. And, if they were lucky, they would then be free.

    Haylin despised his background of wealth and privilege and wore torn, threadbare clothes and boots so old there were holes in the soles. All he wanted was a dog and permission to attend public school. His parents denied him both of these wishes. His father was the largest shareholder in a global bank that had been based in Manhattan since 1824, which was a great cause of shame for Hay. By the time they were in high school, he had considered legally changing his name to Jones or Smith so no one could connect him with his family and their infamous greed. One of the reasons he trusted Franny was because she was utterly unimpressed by externals. She didn’t care if he lived in a penthouse on Fifth Avenue, or that his father had a butler who had been to Oxford and wore a morning coat and polished boots.

    What a lot of bother, Franny always said.

    Most important, they had science in common. Haylin was currently studying the effects of cannabis on his calorie intake. So far he’d gained five pounds in less than a month, becoming addicted not to marijuana but to jelly doughnuts. He seemed easygoing, except when he talked about biology or injustice or his dedication to Franny. He trailed after her, not seeming to care if he made a fool of himself. When they were together, he had an intense gleam in his eye that Franny found disconcerting. It was as if there was a whole other part of him, a hidden self that was fueled by emotions neither he nor Franny was ready to confront.

    Tell me everything about you, Haylin often asked her.

    You already know me, Franny answered. He knew her better than anyone. Better, she sometimes feared, than she knew herself.

    Unlike Franny and Jet, Vincent made his way through school with ease. He had taken up the guitar and in no time had surpassed his teacher, and soon enough packs of infatuated girls followed him through the school hallways. His interest in magic began early on. He pulled quarters from classmates’ ears and lit matches with a puff of breath. In time, his talents increased. With a single look he could make the electricity in the Owenses’ house go haywire, with lights flickering, then fizzing out entirely. Locked doors unlatched when they hadn’t been touched, windows opened and closed when he was near. When Franny asked how he accomplished such things, he refused to divulge his methods.

    Figure it out, he said with a grin.

    Vincent had posted a sign on his bedroom door, ENTER AT YOUR OWN PERIL, but Franny walked right in to search the place. There was nothing interesting in the desk drawers or the closet, but when she reached into the cobwebby space beneath her brother’s bed she discovered an occult handbook called The Magus. Franny knew its history, for it was on their mother’s list of forbidden books. It had been so popular when it was published, in 1801, that not enough texts could be printed. People committed robbery in their desire to own it, and many devotees kept it hidden under the floorboards. Vincent’s well-worn copy was still just as potent as ever. It smelled like sulfur, and as soon as Franny saw it, she had a sneezing fit. If she wasn’t mistaken, she was allergic to the thing.

    The Magus was so hot to the touch she burned her fingers on its binding as she plucked it from its hiding place. It was not the sort of item a person picked up on a whim. You had to know what you were looking for, and you had to have the courage to handle it.

    Franny flung the text on the kitchen table as Vincent was having his lunch. There went the potato salad and the coleslaw, splattering across the tabletop. The spine of the book was black and gold, cracked with age. When it hit the table the book groaned.

    Where did this come from? she asked.

    Vincent stared at her and didn’t flinch. A used book kiosk outside the park.

    That is not true, Franny said firmly. You’ve never been to a bookstall in your life!

    Vincent could flimflam other people, even Jet could be fooled by his charm, but Franny harbored an instinct for such things. Truth felt light and green, but a lie sunk to the floor, heavy as metal, a substance she always avoided for it made her feel as though she was trapped behind bars. Still, Vincent was the most appealing of liars and Franny felt a swell of love for her brother when he shrugged and told the truth.

    You’re right. They couldn’t sell it in a bookstall, he confided. It’s still illegal.

    Any copies that had been unearthed at the turn of the century had been burned on a bonfire in Washington Square and there was a little-known law forbidding the book to be kept in libraries in New York City or sold in bookstores. Inside the book now splayed upon the table Franny spied images of witches led to a gallows hill. The date printed below the illustration was 1693. A chill of recognition ran through her. She’d recently written a report for history class on the Salem trials and therefore knew this to be the year when many of those set to be tried escaped from New England in search of a more tolerant place, which they found in Manhattan. While the antiwitchcraft mania raged in New England, spurred on by politics, greed, and religion, ignited by Cotton Mather and the infamous and cruel judge John Hathorne, in New York only two witch trials had taken place, in 1658 and again in 1665, one in Queens, the other on Long Island, then called Yorkshire, in the town of Setauket, both involving residents who had ties to Boston. In New York, Franny had discovered, it was possible to be free.

    Why would you want this thing? Franny’s fingertips had turned sooty and she had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.

    Of course it would be like Vincent to be interested in the occult, rather than something ordinary, like soccer or track and field. He was suspended from school on a regular basis for general mischief, pails of water tumbling down, cans of pepper spray going off. His ongoing behavior was a great embarrassment to their father, who had recently published a book titled A Stranger in the House, an analysis of troubled adolescents dedicated to the children, none of whom had any intention of reading it, though it was something of a bestseller.

    Franny could guess where The Magus had come from. The place on their mother’s list they were never to go. Downtown. It was rumored that what was outlawed in other parts of Manhattan could be found there. Hearts of beasts, blood of men, enchantments that could prove to be lethal. The chief reason their mother did not allow them to journey to Greenwich Village was that it was viewed as a society of bohemians, drug addicts, homosexuals, and practitioners of black magic. Yet Vincent had managed to find his way there.

    Trust me, it’s nothing to worry about, he muttered, quickly retrieving The Magus. Really, Franny, it’s just a lousy book.

    Be careful, Franny admonished him.

    Perhaps she was also speaking to herself, for she was often alarmed by her own abilities. It wasn’t only that birds were drawn to her or that she’d discovered she could melt icicles with the touch of her hand. There was some scientific logic behind both of those reactions. She was calm and unafraid when birds flapped about, and her body temperature was above average, therefore it was logical for ice to melt. But one night, while standing on the fire escape outside her bedroom, she’d thought so hard about flying that for a moment her feet had lifted and she’d hung in the air. That, she knew, was empirically impossible.

    We don’t really know what we’re dealing with, she murmured to her brother.

    But it’s something, isn’t it? Vincent said. Something inside of us. I know our mother wants us to pretend we’re like everyone else, but you know that we’re not.

    They both considered this. The girls had their talents, as did Vincent. He could, for instance, see shadowy bits of the future. He’d known that Franny would come across The Magus today and that they would have this conversation. In fact, he’d written it down on his skin with blue ink. He now held up his arm to show her. Franny finds the book.

    Coincidence, Franny was quick to say. There was no other justifiable cause.

    Are you sure? Who’s to say it’s not more? Vincent lowered his voice. We could try to find out.

    They sat together, side by side, pulling their kitchen chairs close, unsure of what bloomed inside them. As they concentrated, the table rose up, hovering an inch off the floor. Franny was so startled she hit the tabletop with the palms of her hands to stop the rising. Immediately it returned to the floor with a clatter.

    Let’s wait, she said, flushed with the heat of this strange moment.

    Why wait? The sooner we know what this is, the better. We want to control it, not have it control us.

    "There is no it, Franny insisted, logical as always, well aware that her brother was referring to magic. There’s a rational explanation for every action and reaction."

    After the incident in the kitchen, the table was always tilted, with plates and glasses tending to slide off the top, as if to remind them that whoever they were, whatever their history might be, Vincent had been correct. They were not like anyone else.

    None of this experimentation would have pleased Dr. and Mrs. Burke-Owens, had they known of such games. They were elegant, serious people who spent evenings out nursing a Tom Collins or whiskey sour at the Yale Club, for after receiving his B.A. at Harvard, the doctor had attended medical school in New Haven, a town their mother admitted she hoped never to visit again. They were both constantly on the lookout for signs of hereditary malfunctions in their offspring, and so far they were not especially hopeful. In his writings, Dr. Burke-Owens proposed a theory of personality that placed nature over nurture, stating there was no way to change a child’s core personality. Not only was the brain hardwired, he proposed, but the soul was as well. There was no way to escape one’s personal genetics, despite a healthy environment, and this did not bode well for Frances and Bridget and Vincent.

    Luckily for them, their father was preoccupied with his patients, who furtively made their way inside through a separate entrance before descending to a basement office in the Owenses’ town house. While therapy was in progress, Vincent often sneaked down to the coat closet to search a patient’s pockets for cash, mints, and Valium. Then all three children would lie on the kitchen floor, relaxed by the little yellow pills Vincent had found, sucking on Brach’s Ice Blue mints as they listened in to the sobbing confessions that filtered up through the heating vent. Due to these eavesdropping sessions they knew about obsessions, depressions, manias, sexual appetites, and transference long before most people their age knew what a psychiatrist was.

    Every year a box of lavender-scented black soap wrapped in crinkly cellophane would arrive from Massachusetts. Susanna refused to say who the sender was, yet she faithfully washed with it. Perhaps that was why she had such a creamy, radiant complexion. Franny discovered the potential of the soap after she nicked a bar one Christmas. When she and Jet sampled it, the soap caused their skin to shine, but it also made them so silly they couldn’t stop laughing. They filled the sink with bubbles and splashed water at each other and were soon soaked to the skin. When their mother found them throwing the slippery bar of soap back and forth like a hot potato, she snatched it from their grasp.

    This is not for children, she said, though Franny was nearly seventeen and Jet would turn sixteen next summer.

    Surely their mother was hiding something from them under the clouds of mascara she wore. She never spoke of her family, and the children had never met a single relation. As they grew older their suspicions grew as well. Susanna Owens spoke in riddles and never gave a straight answer. Uncross your knives, she’d insist if there was a quarrel at the table. Butter melting in a dish meant someone nearby was in love, and a bird in the house could take your bad luck out the window. She insisted that her children wear blue for protection and carry packets of lavender in their pockets, though Franny always threw the packets away the minute she was out of her mother’s sight.

    They began to wonder if their mother wasn’t a spy. Russia was the enemy, and at Starling students were often made to crouch beneath their desks, hands over their heads, for bomb-safety drills. Spies had no family connections and dubious histories, just as their mother had, and they spoke in double-talk, as she did. They fudged their histories to protect their true backgrounds and intentions, and Susanna never mentioned attending college nor did she discuss where she grew up or reveal anything about her parents, other than claiming they had died young while on a cruise. The Owens children knew only the slimmest facts: Susanna had grown up in Boston and been a model in Paris before settling down with the children’s father, who was an orphan with no family of his own. Their mother was terribly chic at all times, wearing black and gold sunglasses even on cloudy days, and lavish designer clothes from Paris, and she always wore Chanel No. 5 perfume, so that every room she was in was deliciously scented.

    And then you all came along, Susanna would say cheerfully, when anyone could tell having children had been a trial for her. It was obvious she wasn’t meant for domestic life. She was a terrible cook and seemed puzzled by all household duties. The washing machine caused her endless grief and often overflowed. The stove was on the fritz more often than not, and every culinary dish she attempted came out half-baked. Even macaroni and cheese was an ordeal. A hired woman came in once a week to mop and vacuum, but she was fired after Susanna found her teaching the children to use a Ouija board, which was confiscated and burned in the fireplace.

    You know the rules! she cried. Do not call up darkness when you are unprepared for the consequences. Susanna looked quite mad, stuffing the Ouija board into the flames with a poker.

    Her penchant for the rules only made her children more curious. Why did their mother draw the curtains on May Day, leaving them in the dark? Why did she wear sunglasses on moonlit nights? Why did she panic when they ran out of salt and quickly rush down to buy some at the market? They looked for clues about their heritage, but there were few keepsakes, although one day Franny discovered an old photograph album wrapped in muslin on the top shelf of the hallway closet. There were faded pictures of women in a lush, overgrown garden, a troupe of girls in long skirts grinning at the camera, a black cat on a porch, their mother when she was young, standing in front of Notre-Dame. When Susanna found Franny curled up on the settee in the parlor studying the album, she immediately took it away. It’s for your own good, she said tenderly. All I want for you is a normal life.

    Mother, Franny sighed. "What makes you think that’s what I want?"

    What is meant to be is bound to happen, whether or not you approve. One June morning, their lives were forever changed. It was 1960, and all at once there was a sense that anything might occur, suddenly and without warning. It had been a great relief when the end of the school year arrived, but life at home was stifling. New York City was a cauldron of pollution and humidity. Just as the temperature climbed into the nineties and the siblings were already bored out of their minds, a letter arrived in the mail. The envelope seemed to pulse, as if it had a beating heart. There was no stamp, yet the U.S. Post Office had seen fit to slip it through the mail slot in their front door.

    Susanna took one look and said, It’s from my aunt Isabelle.

    We have an aunt? Franny asked.

    Good God, not her, Dr. Burke-Owens remarked. Don’t open that letter.

    But Susanna had already slid her nail under the flap of the envelope. She had a strange expression, as if she were opening a door long closed. It’s an invitation for Franny. Everyone gets one when they’ve turned seventeen. It’s a tradition.

    Then I should go, Franny was quick to say. Anything to get away from her mother’s rules.

    If you do, nothing will ever be the same, her mother warned.

    Unlikely, Franny said, retrieving the envelope. Above all she was brave, and when no one dared to step in, she always would. And the letter was addressed to her, not their mother.

    Massachusetts must be avoided at all costs, their father interjected. Contact with any of the family will inflame characteristics which are currently dormant.

    Franny ignored her father, intent on the old-fashioned handwriting that resembled the tracks of a bird.

    You may leave home this afternoon and arrive by dinnertime.

    Did you go when you were seventeen? Franny now asked her mother.

    Susanna blinked her wide gray eyes. Caught in Franny’s gaze, she couldn’t tell a lie. I did, she admitted. Then I left for Paris and that was the end of that. But you. She shook her head. I don’t know about letting you go alone. You’re so rebellious as it is.

    I am not! Franny said with her customary defiance.

    Vincent stepped on Franny’s foot to silence her. He was desperate to have an adventure. We’ll go with her, he said.

    We can watch over her, Jet added.

    Their minds were made up. They would escape for the summer. While their parents argued, Franny and Vincent and Jet went off to pack, shouting to each other not to forget swimsuits and sandals, excited to at last discover where they’d come from.

    When they brought suitcases and backpacks and Vincent’s guitar into the kitchen, their mother was sitting alone at the table, her eyes rimmed red. They gazed at her, confused. Was she ally or enemy?

    "It is a formal invitation, Susanna said. I’ve explained to your father that it wouldn’t do to be rude to my aunt, but I’m not certain he understands. She turned to Vincent and Jet. You will watch over Franny?"

    They assured her they would.

    Isabelle will surprise you, Susanna told them. "There will be tests when you least expect them. You’ll think no one is watching over you, but she’ll be aware of everything you

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