Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, Signed (3 results)

Trade paperback. Condition: Very good. Debi Milligan (Author photograph), and Matt Mahuri (illustrator). Later printing. Format is approximately 5.125 inches by 8 inches. [12], 299, [9] pages. Decorative front cover. Signed by the author on a half-title page( eleventh page in), after the title page and verso. No dust jacket issued. For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in their Massachusetts town. Gillian and Sally have endured that fate as well: as children, the sisters were forever outsiders, taunted, talked about, pointed at. Their elderly aunts almost seemed to encourage the whispers of witchery, with their musty house and their exotic concoctions and their crowd of black cats. But all Gillian and Sally wanted was to escape. Alice Hoffman (born March 16, 1952) is an American novelist, best known for her 1995 novel Practical Magic, which was adapted for a 1998 film of the same name. Many of her works fall into the genre of magic realism and contain elements of magic, irony, and non-standard romances and relationships. When Hoffman was twenty-one and studying at Stanford, her first short story, At The Drive-In, was published in Volume 3 of the literary magazine Fiction. Editor Ted Solotaroff contacted her, and asked whether she had a novel. At that point, she began writing her first novel, Property Of. It was published in 1977. A section of Property Of was published in Solotaroff's literary magazine, American Review. Hoffman's first job was at Doubleday, which later published two of her novels. She was the recipient of a New Jersey Notable Book Award for Ice Queen. She won a Hammett Prize for Turtle Moon. Derived from a Publishers Weekly article: Again a scrim of magic lies gently over her fictional world, in which lilacs bloom riotously in July, a lovesick boy's elbows sizzle on a diner countertop and a toad expectorates a silver ring. The real and the magical worlds are almost seamlessly mixed here, the humor is sharper than in previous books, the characters' eccentricities grow credibly out of their past experiences and the poignant lessons they learn reverberate against the reader's heartstrings, stroked by Hoffman's lyrical prose. The Owens women have been witches for several generations. Orphaned Sally and Gillian Owens, raised by their spinster aunts in a spooky old house, grow up observing desperate women buying love potions in the kitchen and vow never to commit their hearts to passion. Fate, of course, intervenes. Steady, conscientious Sally marries, has two daughters and is widowed early. Impulsive, seductive Gillian goes through three divorces before she arrives at Sally's house with a dead body in her car. Meanwhile, Sally's daughters, replicas of their mother and their aunt, experience their own sexual awakenings. The inevitability of love and the torment and bliss of men and women gripped by desire is Hoffman's theme here, and she plays those variations with a new emphasis on sex scenes--there's plenty of steamy detail. The dialogue is always on target, particularly the squabbling between siblings, and, as usual, weather plays a portentous role. Readers will relish this magical tale.

Octavo (8-1/2" x 5-1/2"). 304pp. Gilt decorated dark brown morocco. A.e.g. Signed by Alice Hoffman. A fine, as new copy, still in publisher's original shrinkwrap and shipping carton. This work is still in-print at The Easton Press for $132. "The beloved novel of enchantment personally signed by Alice Hoffman. Reputed to be part of a family of witches, sisters Gillian and Sally Owens were forever outsiders in their Massachusetts town. All they wanted was to escape. Now the bonds they share will bring them back almost as if by magic." (Publisher).

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Collector's Edition. Published by Easton Press as a collector's edition signed by Alice Hoffman. Comes with all the Easton Press publishing points and standards. Still in the publisher's original issued cellophane wrap. In new, flawless condition.