Years ago, I interviewed Alice Hoffman for Bookreporter. She has always been one of my favorite authors, so it was fantastic to have the opportunity to speak with her.

As my baby cooed at my feet (and Hoffman spoke endearingly to my son over the phone), I asked one last question: How did you write ILLUMINATION NIGHT without ever stepping foot on Martha’s Vineyard? Having grown up in New England, with family living full-time on the Vineyard since the 1950s, I couldn’t believe that she had picked up the vibe of a special place without experiencing it herself. She simply said that she had imagined it. “Isn’t that my job?” she asked. Indeed it is, and it’s a job that she’s so good at.

Hoffman’s latest effort, THE WITCHES OF CAMBRIDGE, is a well-imagined and affecting story about two young women who find fellowship and friendship because they both have special powers that make them outcasts. In 1950, coming to study at Radcliffe College (which used to house the female scholars at Harvard), Ava and Lauren are recruited to join the Lilith Society, a “secret organization of witches at Radcliffe dating back to colonial times.” The closeness they have is tested and strengthened time and again as their cohorts in the Society go missing. 

With the abject nihilism of the McCarthy trials at full speed, these young Americans discover that the long line of virulent government opposition to women and their unique needs and accomplishments date back to the witch trials of the 1600s. Perhaps those trials have just changed face and never really ended.

"The book sits right at the heart of the battle between good and evil with a flair that only Hoffman’s singular imagination can build. It’s great to have her back!"

The one thing that readers associate with Hoffman is the search for, the acceptance of and the loss of love. She could be considered the queen of what is now referred to as romantasy, but her work is always planted in two worlds --- the life of the heart and the life of the soul. Here again, Ava and Lauren pull together out of the necessity of protecting their abilities but also the legacy that they represent for strong women across the ages.

Hoffman is a feminist. Every book passes the Bechdel test, although romantic love is certainly a big part of the conversation. She also believes in fairness, tolerance and compassion in individual lives and the world at large. Her love philosophy abounds with questions about true compatibility, if people can really belong to each other, and what responsibilities deep feelings bring to the forefront in any relationship. THE WITCHES OF CAMBRIDGE asks such questions within two historical periods, shifting the story from one witch hunt to another, a singular and specific aspect of the American way of life before it was officially a country.

Ava and Lauren are deeply felt characters who get involved in a dangerous game that they did not sign up for. The discoveries they make together, the precarious positions in which they find themselves, feel fresh and specific --- in that lilting way that only Hoffman can provide. Since PRACTICAL MAGIC, the ways in which women care for and protect each other has been a Hoffman go-to. But in this book, against the background of the two witch trials, their feelings of love and friendship create a shield that is put to the test throughout this stirring narrative.

The sense of purpose and the core trait of strength is the backbone of THE WITCHES OF CAMBRIDGE. Like so many of Hoffman’s soulful tales, it brings together history and fantasy in a unique way. The suspenseful story pulls readers through its trials and tribulations with an easygoing rushing-river flow of excitement, danger, and the deep and abiding love that is required of those who fight the always-encroaching darkness of any time in this planet’s history with purpose and drive. Ava and Lauren are not superwomen, though they are asked to be due to their circumstances. 

The book sits right at the heart of the battle between good and evil with a flair that only Hoffman’s singular imagination can build. It’s great to have her back!