Magic Spells

A beautifully written, wonderfully evocative contemporary novel for the readers of Alice Hoffman.Jane Gregory doesn't believe in her grandmother's magic, until a potion makes Ned Payton fall in love with her. But a week before their wedding, the pregnant Jane discovers Ned cheating on her and wishes him dead. On that warm, starlit night, the hasty wish comes true. And when she gives birth, it is to a son who doesn't speak, a son who grows up mute with a sorrow and guilt he can't understand. He imagines a fire-breathing dragon in his throat and believes that one day he'll be strong enough to slay the beast. Seven year later, Jane returns to her small hometown when she inherits her mother's house. At once the magic she has shunned rushes back -- grass turns green beneath her feet, a faded rosebush bursts into bloom. And an irresistible stranger with hauntingly familiar eyes and cheating ways moves across the street. If Jane isn't such a pragmatist, she'd swear she's falling in love with Ned all over again. But this time she has a son to think of. This time, Ned Payton's brother Graham, once her best friend and now the town doctor, is not about to lose her to another man. And this time, Jane's determined to use whatever means is necessary, including her grandmother's most potent magic, to finally learn the difference between the kind of love that heals and the kind that breaks a heart.