The Invisible Hour

It's been a while since I've been able to indulge in a new Alice Hoffman book. For me, it's always the literary equivalent of eating chocolate.[b:The Invisible Hour 62919793 The Invisible Hour Alice Hoffman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1686761095l/62919793.SX50.jpg 98737242] is like dark chocolate, my favorite. It holds all the magical elements that [a:Alice Hoffman 3502 Alice Hoffman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1590599928p2/3502.jpg] is so adept at creating. It like reading a long, intricate dream. I loved the whole premise of connections between mothers and daughters as well as the indescribable bond between readers and authors.Ivy's story to escape judgment regarding her own unplanned pregnancy in a remote commune gracefully evolves into her daughter Mia's escape back to the “real” world for a chance to live free (and invisible.) Ivy's husband, head of the secret community, haunts Mia's every attempt to live her own life. Hoffman warns us about men like him. “Some people are who you think they are. Some people hide the wolf inside of them, but you can hear them howl.”So what does that all have to do with [a:Nathaniel Hawthorne 7799 Nathaniel Hawthorne https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1291476587p2/7799.jpg]? I'm so glad you (well, I) asked. It's was Mia's prohibited trip into a library and her love of his book [b:The Scarlet Letter 12296 The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404810944l/12296.SY75.jpg 4925227] that gave her the courage to escape. Why? Here's how Hoffman explains our undeniable need for a good book.“Real life is unbelievable. Souls are snatched away from us, flesh and blood turn to dust, people you love betray you, men go to war over nothing. It's all preposterous. That's why we have novels. To make sense of things.”Mia is able to connect with Hawthorne in a way only a deft writer of magical realism could connect them. Even though I haven't read The Scarlet Letter in ages, it all came back to me anew with a interpretation that is so poignant in our women's rights-challenged world. Don't just read this book. Live in it. Dream of it. Let it carry to you to places you thought you couldn't go.