There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes.

Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.’As children, Gillian and Sally Owens are marked as different, growing up on the margins of a small New England town where whispers of magic cling to their family name. Each longs to escape: one into marriage, the other as far from home as she can travel.

Years later, when tragedy draws them back together, the sisters must confront not only the past they tried to leave behind, but the enduring connection between them – and the power, both dangerous and transformative, that has always set them apart. Richly atmospheric and quietly spellbinding, Practical Magic is a story of love and loss, forgiveness and belonging, and the extraordinary resilience of family. Alice Hoffman’s beloved novel continues to enchant readers with its seamless blend of the everyday and the otherworldly, capturing the fragile, powerful magic of being human.