The Rules of Magic

Introduction

American writer Alice Hoffman wrote The Rules of Magic (2017) as the prequel to her acclaimed 1995 novel Practical Magic. It forms part of the four-part Practical Magic series of books, which tell the story of the magically gifted Owens family and the curse that binds them and their lovers over successive generations. The Rules of Magic narrates the youth of Frances and Jet, the aunts whom Practical Magic protagonists Gillian and Sally are sent to live with, in addition to that of their brother, Vincent. The book achieved both commercial success and renown, becoming an instant New York Times bestseller and a Reese’s Book Club pick. Following the book’s publication, Hoffman’s desire to explore the Owens women’s world further resulted in Magic Lessons (2020), a prequel to the prequel, detailing 17th-century ancestor Maria Owens’s story, and The Book of Magic (2021), a sequel to Practical Magic.

Hoffman wrote The Rules of Magic 22 years after Practical Magic owing to readers’ inquiries about what happened to the Owens women and the desire to be steeped further into their world. Given the gap between their publications, readers such as NPR reviewer Amal El-Mohtar experience a return to their reading selves at an earlier stage of life.