The almost supernaturally prolific American author Alice Hoffman has taken a busman’s holiday this year to pen a little fan fiction: a prequel to her own bestselling novel Practical Magic. The original book became the 1998 Hollywood romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as witchy sisters Gillian and Sally Owens. Now, in The Rules of Magic, set in 1950s New York, we are treated to the backstory of Gillian and Sally’s great-aunts, Frances and Jet. Like all the females in the Owens family tree, Frances and Jet are witches descended from Salem escapee Maria Owens. More than 300 years ago, the teenage Maria was seduced and abandoned by Salem trial judge John Hathorne (real-life great-great-grandfather of Nathaniel Hawthorne, who added a “w” in his name to deflect the inevitable question). Sign up for the Bookmarks email Read more The fact that Maria’s lover was a state-sponsored serial killer of women led the young witch to conclude – erroneously, one hopes – that all men are a bad thing. Thus before she went to her grave Maria decided to protect her female descendants by casting a spell to ensure that every male who loves an Owens woman will die, horribly and fast. This spell makes life difficult for Frances and Jet, especially when they become sexually aware teenagers. In the summer that they go to stay with their Aunt Isabelle, at least four local lads – including an adorable pair of 17-year-old twins – come to shocking ends. Aunt Isabelle is sanguine about the whole thing, and encourages the girls to keep on loving boys anyway, saying wisely: “When you truly love someone and they love you in return, you ruin your lives together. That is not a curse. It’s what life is, my girl.” It’s all the great circle of death, we comfort our­selves, as we stroll through the scented garden of Hoffman’s prose The girls’ brother, the irresistible wizard Vincent Owens, has a different problem. As a youth, he breaks the hearts of endless girls, before realising that he is gay. Yet just as he’s starting to enjoy himself, he remembers that he too is cursed to die young. Hoffman has a soothing touch, so we quickly get over the various horrific tragedies with which her latest book is littered – any one of which would pole-axe us personally for life. It’s all the great circle of death, we comfort ourselves, as we stroll through the scented garden of Hoffman’s prose. In the book, Aunt Isabelle trades love remedies for women’s diamond rings. Hoffman herself has a spell for which any writer would trade a crate of diamonds – the ability to turn out one enchanting bestseller after another, more than 30 novels to date, and probably more by the time I have finished this review.