The Rules of Magic

Susanna Burke-Owens is trying to raise her three children as normally as possible in Manhattan, New York, on the cusp of the 1960s, with her psychiatrist husband, Dr. Burke-Owens. She is conscious that her family, the Owenses, have been outcasts since the arrival of Maria Owens in America in 1860. Maria’s life was shrouded in mystery regarding the paternity of her child and the acquisition of her wealth. Her descendants had equally mysterious trajectories, especially as their husbands tended to disappear completely. Susannah has fled her native Massachusetts to settle in New York and keep her children from the knowledge of their troubling ancestry by banning magical-related pastimes such as using Ouija boards, reading magical novels, or keeping cats. However, her children “insisted upon being unusual” (4). For example, Frances stands out for her ability to commune with birds, Jet for her ability to read minds, and Vincent for his extraordinary charisma. The sisters are outsiders at the school they attend; however, students who bully them find that they are punished with minor accidents and misfortunes. Vincent becomes a musical prodigy, earns the attention of scores of girls, and brazenly performs magic tricks such as making quarters appear behind his classmates’ ears.

The discovery that Vincent has been harboring an illegal book called The Magus causes a frank conversation with Frances about how they are different from other kids. For example, Frances can make herself levitate, while Vincent can predict the future. They are especially curious about Susanna’s secrecy around her family and her odd habits, such as washing herself with a soap received annually from a mysterious sender.

One June morning in 1960, an invitation comes from Susanna’s aunt Isabelle for a stay in Massachusetts. Against their parents’ wishes, all three children accept and head to the Magnolia Street ancestral home. When they arrive in town, they witness that the local residents are unwelcoming and that Aunt Isabelle is diminutive but imposing and gifted in herbology. She is eager to test the children’s mettle and magical abilities. Aunt Isabelle advises them to never deny who they are, using as a warning the family story of a cousin, Maggie, whose loathing for the family backfired when she transformed into a rabbit. At the library, Frances finds Maria Owens’s book of spells and reads her ancestor’s warning to beware of love. She learns that Maria was cast out by her child’s father, bringing about the curse: Any man who falls in love with an Owens woman will meet his death. Frances, who is beginning to have feelings for her schoolfriend Haylin, takes note.

Every evening after midnight, Aunt Isabelle turns the porch light on, a family tradition signaling to the townswomen that they are open for plant-based cures. Frances eavesdrops and learns that in exchange for payment, Aunt Isabelle helps people cure sickness and heartbreak as well as with darker pursuits, such as stealing another woman’s spouse.

April Owens, the children’s sophisticated, rebellious cousin, has arrived along with her pet ferret, Henry, whom she describes as her soulmate. She is fearless, knowing the family curse and accepting that when she falls in love it will end badly. She advises her cousins to enjoy themselves in the meantime. April says they are bloodline witches and urges them to trust no one, as there are people who wish them harm. She can see into the future and knows that she is fated to lose everyone she loves. Vincent, impressed by April, follows her around, but Frances remains skeptical of her arrogance. April leaves, feeling vulnerable because she must go home to her disapproving parents and has fallen for Vincent. Vincent, restless, ends up having an affair with Mrs. Rustler, one of the women who comes for Aunt Isabelle’s cures. He is alarmed when Mrs. Rustler, who is his mother’s age, falls in love with him.

Aunt Isabelle tells him he is addictive to women and must learn a protection charm. She shows him his future self in a magic mirror; though it is not revealed to the reader yet, he sees that he is fated to fall in love with another man and to be drafted into war. Aunt Isabel makes him take an amulet to Mrs. Rustler’s house when the moon is waning and stay there until her attraction to him evaporates.

One night Aunt Isabelle wakes Frances to show her a grimoire, which is full of spells. Frances learns that although the family curse has not been broken in hundreds of years, that does not mean it cannot be. However, Frances feels the full force of the curse the next day when she and Jet go on a date with two boys who then get struck by lightning. Following further incidents, in which local boys go mad and meet their deaths for the love of Jet, the sisters vow to never fall in love.

Still, Jet goes to the boys’ funerals and meets Levi, the tall, handsome son of Reverend Willard, a Hathorne descendant. Levi is aware of her identity as an Owens, and the two bond over the things they have in common: a love of Emily Dickinson and overprotective parents. When they part, Jet feels their meeting is fated.

The Owenses return to New York at the end of the summer. Both Frances and Jet are on their way to being in love, with Haylin and Levi, respectively.