Alice Hoffman, The Invisible Hour: A Novel

A Page from the Book Festival of the MJCCA Presents Alice Hoffman, The Invisible Hour, in conversation with Holly Firfer

Author Talk and Q & A

THERE WILL NOT BE A BOOK SIGNING AT THIS EVENT; ALL BOOKS WILL BE PRE-SIGNED!
In Partnership with A Cappella Books

2023 Patron Kickoff Event: Support the 32nd Edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA as a patron and receive this event for free along with a complimentary copy of the book. More Book Festival benefits available! Please contact Amy: amy.royals@atlantajcc.org for more information!

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage of Opposites and the Practical Magic series comes an enchanting novel about love, heartbreak, self-discovery, and the enduring magic of books.

One brilliant June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden, and books are considered evil. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her?

Through a journey of heartbreak, love, and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realizes 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.

As a girl Mia fell in love with a book. Now as a young woman she falls in love with a brilliant writer as she makes her way back in time. But what if Nathaniel Hawthorne never wrote The Scarlet Letter? And what if Mia Jacob never found it on the day she planned to die?

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote: “A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.” This is the story of one woman’s dream. For a little while it came true.

The Invisible Hour features some of bestselling author Alice Hoffman’s signature themes—magic, star-crossed romance, a foundational love of books and libraries, and a fierce heroine who survives and thrives against the odds.

"Alice Hoffman's THE INVISIBLE HOUR is a rich, immersive, magical reading experience. This beautiful novel is about the stories women tell each other and the ones that save us, about the price and peril of motherhood, and the difficulties women have faced throughout history in controlling their own fates.   Alice Hoffman, the reigning queen of magical realism, takes her readers on a fantastic, mystical journey that celebrates the joy and power of reading and dares to believe in the impossible."

— Kristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including The Book of Magic, Magic Lessons, The World That We Knew, Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic (a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick), the Oprah’s Book Club Selection Here on Earth, The Red Garden, The Dovekeepers, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, The Marriage of Opposites, and Faithful. She lives near Boston.

Additional books will be available for purchase on the evening of the event from our partner bookseller, A Cappella Books!