I do not think that there can ever be enough books about anything and I say that knowing that some of them are going to be about Pilates.The more knowledge the better seems like a solid rule of thumb, even though I have watched enough science fiction films to accept that humanity’s unchecked pursuit of learning will end with robots taking over the world.-Sarah Vowell

Monday, October 5, 2026

The Witches of Cambridge by Alice Hoffman

 

Alice Hoffman, author of Practical Magic, Here on Earth, and Turtle Moon, has written a sweeping tale set in both the 1950s and the 17th century, about two young witches and their time at Radcliffe, and the first witch of Cambridge, who set up Lilith House, a place for witches at Radcliffe, where they can learn magic along with their studies.  Lauren comes from a rich family and is a descendant of the original witches of Cambridge, whose parents died when she was young.  She is attempting to turn her heart to stone so she can never feel the pain of loss, which also means not falling in love.  Ava, a stunning redhead, didn't know she was a witch; she was raised in Maine on an apple farm, bullied for being different, and forced to follow her parents' strict rules to keep her from being discovered.  Ava and Lauren meet before the nightlong celebration welcoming new witches to Lilith House.  They save each other from being run over by a car and become blood sisters.  

Ava finds letters from Cambridge's first witch, Rose Bridewell, who tells the story of her life and the lives of other witches.  Rose is rescued from a jail in England by Increase Mather's wife, and Mather takes her to America.  Mather's wife is a witch who doesn't practice, and Rose and she become more than employer and employee; they become fast friends.  Mather's son, Cotton, is a witch, but doesn't know it. He hates himself, and that hate reaches out to those like him.  Cotton will go on to start the Salem witch trials.  The fear of being named a witch mirrors the fear of the 1950s McCarthyism that Ava and Lauren live in.

Ava falls hard for Jamie Mather, a man whose family sent him to Harvard to become a lawyer like the rest of them, even though he has no interest in it.  Jamie wants to get far away from his family, who treat him differently for being a witch.  Despite her efforts not to, Lauren falls in love with a tattoo artist named Carick, but refuses to give in to her emotions, even as she finds excuses to keep going back to see him.  Lauren spends her free time trying to keep Ava away from Jamie because he is a Mather, and the Mather family has hunted witches for a long time, and he will only hurt Ava.  This causes her friendship with Ava to be quite rocky at times.

This captivating novel keeps you quickly turning pages to find out what happens next.  It explores the power of friendship, finding love, and two men, in the present and the past, who seek to destroy those who are different, whether they be witches or so-called communists.  Both women from the 17th century and the 1950s have to hide who they really are, as well as Lauren't brother, Lionel, who is not only a witch, but gay in a world that punishes people like him as being unnatural.  This book holds a mirror up to today's society and how those who are different are still persecuted.


Quotes

It was said that everyone had three fates, the one they were born with, the one they walked away from, and the one they made for themselves.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.15)

Her mouth was so red she looked like a flower, although her true intention was to be the thorn.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.19)

The world will break your heart, but you can repair the world every day.  You know how you are, even if no one else does.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.23)

Ava's mother had always warned her to not accept favors from other girls.  Once she did, she would surely find herself at their mercy, for that was what friendship was about.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.34)

Hate yourself and everyone else will agree with you.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.57)

People said you couldn't make someone love you, but Jamie knew for a fact that you could make someone hate you.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.65)

Love is chemistry.  If it weren't, people wouldn't do such stupid things in the name of love.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.68)

Be willing to do what you most fear if you ever plan to be free.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.93)

It's people that ruin things, not love.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.92)

Sometimes you don't know why you've gone somewhere until you've reached your destination.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.116)

What men don't understand they will seek to destroy.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.164)

Love was greedy; it was all that you wanted once you'd had it; it was the reason to wake in the morning and to go to bed at night.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.184)

A story can tell you what to do when you don't know how to live your life.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.217)

Once you read a story, you'd carry it with you.  Even if it's hidden, even if it's only a bonfire, it will remain a part of who you are, and one day you'll find it; it will rise up in your blood and your bones to be remembered no matter what.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.280)

He was clearly a tortured soul.  He'd be worse by the end of the night, when he finished The Catcher In The Rye and realized he would never be happy until he discovered who he really was.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.315)

Love has nothing to do with the here and now.  That's what he'd said.  It's what we have no matter what happens.
Alice Hoffman (The Witches of Cambridge, p.392)







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