The Invisible Hour

I go into every Alice Hoffman book thinking it is going to be as magical and perfect as Practical Magic, and I am always "slightly" let down. But really, I loved this - it was just different from what I was expecting. Alice Hoffman always writes BEAUTIFULLY and her words are like a warm bath on a cold night. They just roll over you. The Invisible Hour is about a mother and daughter both trapped in a commune. Told in alternating storylines, the reader discovers how Ivy could be tricked into joining such a cult like community and the repercussions it has on her daughter. When her daughter starts sneaking out to walk to the library in the next town, she discovers a whole new world in books. And when she reads The Scarlett Letter which has striking similarities to her childhood she feels connected to the long dead, Nathaniel Hawthorn. I don't want to say anything else and risk spoiling the plot. Just know that it is beautiful magical realism. I love me some Alice Hoffman!