By: Leah
Originally posted on Leah’s Books.
The Invisible Hour
- Author: Alice Hoffman
- Genre: Historical Fiction
- Publication Date: August 15, 2023
- Publisher: Atria Books
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
CONTENT WARNING: death of a parent, grief, abuse, violence, death, suicidal ideation, stalking, terminal illness
Plot Summary
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 “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.
Overall Impression
I have yet to find an Alice Hoffman book that I haven’t loved, and this one is no exception. Hoffman has this incredible way of infusing her books with magical realism and making it so easy for her readers to suspend belief that I’ve become a huge fan despite my tendency to dislike magical realism in general with a few exceptions.
This story is basically a love letter to books, although it does touch on other important themes as well. Have you ever read a book and just seen yourself in it? The first time this happened to me was an incredibly powerful moment, and my experience pales in comparison to that of Mia’s in this book. But this line just stood out to me, and while I rarely quote ARCs in my reviews, I couldn’t help but use this quote because it stood out to me:
“Sometimes when you read a book it’s as if you were reading the story of your own life.”
First we hear the story of Ivy, Mia’s mother. When she finds herself pregnant and alone, she finds her way to what seems like an idyllic group of people in western Massachusetts known as the Community. And while it initially seems perfect, the cracks show before long and it’s quickly revealed to be a cult led by a charismatic man named Joel. In the Community, they aren’t allowed to talk to anyone on the outside, they can’t read any books, watch TV, listen to the radio, get married without Joel’s approval, and the children are raised communally without contact from their parents, and they aren’t allowed to show emotions. Infractions are punished harshly. Despite all of this, Ivy finds ways to sneak time alone with Mia, and let her know how much she loves her or tell her stories.
Mia grows up knowing that life in the Community is not a sustainable way of life for her. After discovering a world of escape in her local library, she has a hard time not going back. She tentatively forges a bond with the librarian, and discovers the books that create massive change in her life. And on the day that she decides to end her life, she finds a book that seems to tell the story of her mother’s life. Instead of killing herself, she decides that she wants more from life than what the Community has to offer.
Escaping the Community is both easier than she expects and harder. The way she was brought up isn’t so simple to leave behind, and she finds herself always looking over her shoulder, even after building a fulfilling life on the outside. And when she finds herself magically brought back in time, she encounters an author that she’s already fallen in love with and has to find a balance between building a bond between Nathaniel Hawthorne and not changing anything that would impact that future.
This story brings up some older themes that have become relevant again today, principally women having bodily autonomy. Ivy’s limited choices are what started the journey in this story in the first place—she became pregnant out of wedlock at a time when this was shameful and unacceptable, so her only options were to give the baby up for adoption or to leave and try to find somewhere she can be a single mother and accepted for that. Book banning also plays a role in the story, and there’s definitely a lesson to be learned here: it’s always the despotic people in charge who want to ban the books. There’s a line in the story that said something about how once Mia went into the library, Joel wasn’t able to control her anymore. This is something that we can also apply to our own society today.
Overall, this is a fantastic story that couldn’t have been done as wonderfully in anyone else’s hands. Hoffman is a true master of magical realism, and this story comes across as a perfect example of magical realism done well. This is clearly a love letter to books, and I love how she incorporated present day issues to this moving story. It’s one not to miss, just like all of the other Hoffman books I’ve read, so she’s clearly an auto-buy author for me.
Functionally Fictional 
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