Sixteen-year-old Ivy is pregnant and alone. Cast out by her family, she runs away and finds safety in the arms of Joel Davis. He offers a simpler life than the one she had in Boston, a quiet, rural life of rules, peace and community. Little does she realise, Joel is the charismatic leader of a cult known as the Community, and all is not quite as it seems.
Daughter Mia has only known the claustrophobic life of the Community. While out serving the Community one weekend, she secretly commits a transgression – reading. Discovering a world beyond the edges of the Community’s property is intoxicating. But breaking rules carries serious consequences, and sends Mia on a path she could never have imagined.
Through a journey of heartbreak, love and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realises that reading can transport you to other worlds or bring them to you, and that readers and writers affect one another in mysterious ways. She learns that time is more fluid than she can imagine, and that love is stronger than any chains that bind you.
With two fiercely wonderful heroines, The Invisible Hour is a heart-breaking and hopeful novel of family, redemption and the power of love.
Alice Hoffman is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty works of fiction, including the beloved Practical Magic series. Now, Hoffman returns with The Invisible Hour, an enchanting novel about love, heartbreak, self-discovery and the enduring magic of books.
There’s a letter from the author at the beginning of this exquisitely insightful novel, in which Hoffman expands on her love of books and the profound impact they’ve had on her life: “A book doesn’t live when it’s written. It lives when it’s read.” This is deep at the heart of The Invisible Hour: the magic books possess within their pages to search out our hearts, galvanise our hopes, and provide the courage to dare to dream a life beyond our own, discovering the mysteries that lie between the novels we read.
The Invisible Hour is an ode to the intimacy readers and writers share as books deliver another possible world. In Mia’s case, this is a love that transcends time. The prose is beautifully written and Hoffman’s understanding of the complexities of mother-daughter relationships is superb.
The story is written from both Ivy and Mia’s perspectives as the author masterfully weaves the connections between our two heroines, reaching beyond time in this transportive, mesmerising and deeply enchanting tale. This is a must-read for any booklover.
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