We first met the Owens in the glorious novel Practical Magic. We discovered the tragedy of the Owens siblings in Rules of Magic. Now we learn how it all began... with a baby abandoned in a snowy English field in the 1600s. Under the care of gentle Hannah Owens, little Maria learns about the 'Unnamed Arts'. Maria has a gift for them - a gift that may well prove her undoing.
When Maria is abandoned by the man she loves, she invokes the curse that will haunt her family for centuries. Because magic has rules, and they must be followed. This is the lesson that Maria will carry with her for the rest of her life, and pass on to her children and her children's children.
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She was found on a January day in a field where junipers grew, wound in a blue blanket with her name carefully stitched along the border with silk thread. 1
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(@ScribnerUK, 6 October 2020, hardback, 416 pages, borrowed from @GlasgowLib)
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I'm a huge fan of the author and the Practical Magic series so have wanted to read Magic Lessons for ages, a prequel to the other books. This is historical fiction with a difference which doesn't focus on important historical events but the lives of Hannah and Maria Owens and the impact on future generations with some insight into the Salem witch trials. I enjoyed everything about this book. I really felt Maria's pain and rage as she's betrayed again and again to the point god-fearing people try to kill her for being a witch and then later her daughter. This is well-written and engaging. I thought it was great.