The Invisible Hour surprised me in so many ways. Alice Hoffman’s writing drew me in immediately, and as someone who spent a long time in western MA, I love how Hoffman’s words transported me back to my youth and my time in the beautiful Berkshires.

The book is about female resilience, choosing your life and path, and book portal magic. Cannot imagine a more perfect combination, I love everything about this story. While the logic at the ending can be a possible plot hole, it doesn’t take away the brilliance of the book.

4.5 roundup to 5 ⭐️

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review

𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐: 3⭐️
𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: fiction📚

𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜:
The book is written in three parts and starts off as Ivy joins a cult in the woods. There is time travel/magical realism but I enjoyed but ultimately felt felt for me. The characters were interesting and I love the library aspect. I really liked the letter to the readers at the beginning it made the book feel more personal. Overall, I found the plot intriguing but wasn’t the biggest fan of the execution- it felt like two different books.

I received this eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in return for an honest review.

Dysfunctional families, cults, and found families. Controlling men and autonomy for women, bodily and otherwise. The sanctuary offered by libraries and librarians. Words that create books that in turn create magic, and a reality that the reader recognizes, and a reason for hope and believing one is not alone.

This is a fantastic book, about all this and more. As Hoffman writes in her letter to the readers of The Invisible Hour, readers are a vital part of books, and this book is about and for readers.

Ivy, shunned by her family for an unplanned pregnancy, finds a group of people in western Massachusetts who will provide her with a "family" to help her raise her daughter. Seemingly unaware that she has entered a cult, she struggles to maintain her connections to her daughter, Mia. Children are separated from their parents, books are banned and all contact with the outside world is not allowed. Mia finds way to get around many of these rules. She finds her way to the library in a nearby town and is befriended by the librarian. She discovers a book written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, and it is inscribed "To Mia." Hawthorne lived many years previous so how can this be? Mia resolves to escape the cult. Little does she know the cult leader will continue to hunt for her for many years.

In a twist, Mia finds herself able to travel through time and reaches out to Hawthorne. Alice Hoffman can make the time travel twist work and it works well. Throughout Mia's life she finds she really does have friends who care deeply for her and believe in her. She discovers that love really does set her free.

Thank you to NetGalley, Alice Hoffman and Atria books for this arc. All opinions are my own.

We first follow Ivy Jacobs, a spirited teen who gets pregnant out of wedlock, in a time when women didn’t have a choice. Brushed off by her boyfriend and scorned by her parents, she runs away to a cult in order to make her own choice with her baby. There she soon realizes that The Community is all its cracked up to be. We then time jump to Mia Jacobs, Ivy’s daughter who wants to escape the farm and who loves to read (a sin in The Community and finds The Scarlet Letter with a dedication seemingly penned to her.

I enjoyed this book and was immediately sucked into at the start. Something about how ordinary people can follow an ordinary man steeped in lies is fascinating to me. A lot of this book was also infuriating. The way her parents handled her situation and the things her child’s father said to her made my blood boil- which means Alice Hoffman did an absolutely great job pulling emotions out of me as I read.

I will say that I really liked the first half of this story, but once Hawthorne came into play, I felt like it fell a little flat. I wanted more magic and romance, and it seemed like a lot of what Mia was feeling was brushed over and wasn’t as detailed. I also felt like the ending was a little rushed, though it made sense.

Overall this was a decent read and my first of this author. I would definitely pick up her other books after this, in hopes for a little more magic.

I felt like I was right there with Mia. Alice Hoffman does such a good job of making the setting so real. I recently visited both Salem and Concord, including The House of Seven Gables and Author’s Ridge so I really loved reading the Hawthorne connection. I really like the author’s statement that books can save us, both literally and figuratively. Great story. I really enjoy reading her books.

I have read other Alice Hoffman books, and while I am not a real fan, I have enjoyed her writing. This book is a let down. I understand magical realism, but the realism part was tiring and too unbelievable. I gave the book three stars, because I did finish it. I did a lot of skimming to get through it.

I absolutely love Alice Hoffman and the vibe of her writing and this is no different. She’s the queen of magical realism and the perfect cozy autumn vibes and this just adds to that!

I must admit, I didn't understand completely how the magic worked in this story (how Mia got back and forth in time, however because of the story I really didn't need to understand how it worked. The characters are very cut and dried, the bad guy is definitely the bad guy and stays the bad guy (but Mia does outsmart him at the end) the rest of the characters are all good in their own way, although it takes Elizabeth to understand how much Mia loves Nathaniel and only wants what is best for him. My one complaint about this book is the end--I just wish Ms. Hoffman had returned Mia to now, even though she said she would be happy, I would have like to see it.

You’d be hard pressed to find a more quintessential autumn author than Alice Hoffman. When the clock struck midnight and August gave way to September, I knew exactly what book I wanted for my first of the month.

Mia has only ever known life in the Community, a communal farm on the outskirts of town where contact with the outside world is forbidden. Her mother Ivy sought solace in the group as a teen but still retained her rebellious, free spirited nature — and it was through Ivy that Mia discovered the power and wonder of books.

One in particular, The Scarlet Letter, came into Mia’s life when she needed it most, and the strange inscription — somehow written to Mia herself — will lead her down a path she never dreamed possible.

If you’ve read Julie Otsuka’s THE SWIMMERS, you’ll understand what I mean when I say it felt like I was reading two completely different books. THE INVISIBLE HOUR started off so strong: an oppressive cult, a badass librarian (as though there is any other type), a plan of escape. I was fully on board and ready for what lay ahead. But the second half of this one… it truly read like 19th century celeb fanfic. No scarlet A’s here, Mia was all about that D.

The instalove was baffling enough but Hoffman was EXTREMELY heavy handed when it came to reproductive rights and access to books, topics very much at the forefront of our current political climate. She tried to bring it back around to the 1800s, using Hawthorne’s sister as a mouthpiece, and it was all just so clunky.

I’m so disappointed to say this didn’t live up to my expectations. The first half was great and gave exactly the autumn vibes I wanted, but the entire second half went off the rails. That said, I’m curious about revisiting The Scarlet Letter so maybe that’s a win for Hoffman?

Pub date: 8/15/23
Genre: magical realism, historical fiction
Quick summary: Mia Jacob is trapped in a cult, with only books as her only escape. But then she discovers the ability to travel back in time to meet and fall in love with her favorite author, Nathaniel Hawthorne.

I read my first Alice Hoffman book about a year ago, and she's definitely becoming a favorite author. This is a quiet book but a lovely tribute to the power of literature. I was rooting for Mia from as she fought to change her circumstances. The exploration of feminism and women's rights in both timelines was well done. I also enjoyed the magical realism of the love story and Mia's struggle to decide where she belonged.

At 240 pages, this is one of the few books I think could have been a bit longer, but I enjoyed the read. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Thank you to Atria Books for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A slow paced story about love and bravery with beautiful prose.

Little bit of magic, little bit of history and a lot of quiet moments of understanding.

A love letter to the power of books. A powerful exploration of the love of a mother, the power of books, the free will.

Hoffman is a beautiful writer. She is one of the few whose writing can span a long period of time but never feel long or drawn out. I loved reading about Ivy and Mia’s life together in the Community. Mia traveling in time to meet her idol Nathanial Hawthorne was an interesting twist. Any shortcomings I had with the book were overshadowed by Hoffman’s excellent prose.

I loved the first 3/4 of this one. The cult vibes and Mia going out on her own after her mother’s death was all great and kept me turning pages. Also, Alice’s writing is also so lyrical to read. It just flowed throughout the novel. But, then it took the most bizarre turn during the last 1/4 of the book that didn’t make any sense to me as a reader. I honestly felt like it twisted into two different books. It left me with a lot of questions and there was a lot unexplained.

I waited a bit after pub date to read this because the fall vibes are real and I loved this book. I was nervous when I realized there was time travel and Hawthorne involved (two things that rarely work for me in books), but they worked here because Hoffman simply knows how to tell an engaging story.

I’ll admit that I’m a huge Alice Hoffman fan. I enjoyed how she has woven her magical realism in with what starts out as a standard novel about cults. It did lag a bit in the second half but I still enjoyed it. Not my favorite Alice Hoffman but still better than most books on the shelves these days.

This book was a total surprise, I really enjoyed the first 75% and then I was unsure on the magical realism factor. Overall it was a quick and enjoyable story. I do wish it was a bit longer and more flushed out with the ending...

<b>I was taken with the first half of this book--a rural cult, a teen mother, a strong female protagonist in an impossible situation, looking for answers. But I felt unmoored by the enormous shift into time travel and its inspiration within the story: a passionate obsession with Nathaniel Hawthorne.</b>

<b><blockquote>Self-pity from a man was something she could not abide, not when she had a woman's issues to deal with.</b></blockquote>
<i>The Invisible Hour</i> begins with the story of Ivy, a feisty young woman who becomes pregnant, is threatened with the forcible adoption of her baby, and becomes a runaway.

She flees to the embrace of the Community, a group of people living off the grid in rural western Massachusetts who preach love, share belongings, farm and harvest their own food, take collective care of children--and, Ivy soon finds out as her spirit is soon broken, endure severe punishment for asking questions or diverting from the wishes of the group's charismatic leader, Joel. (Joel as the bad guy in the story seems without redemption; he's petty, paranoid, vindictive, and determined to wreak havoc. There aren't gray areas for the reader to explore where he's concerned; revenge fantasies are the logical next step.)

By the time she realizes her mistake in becoming entangled with the group, she feels it's too late to escape.

<b><blockquote>It wasn't so hard not to show what you really felt if you practiced, if you closed your eyes and imagined that your daughter was with you even when she was somewhere else, if you let the wind rise all around you, if you only heard the songs of the sparrows in the forest, a place so dark it was easy to get lost even in broad daylight, even if your eyes were open.</b></blockquote>
As Ivy's daughter Mia--who grows up in the oppressive Community, secretly and voraciously reading as a lifeline of sorts at the local library--becomes desperate to break with the group, she stumbles upon <i>The Scarlet Letter</i>--which is, as all books are, forbidden within the cult. The two-hundred-old story speaks to her so completely, it feels like it might just save her: "Sometimes when you read a book it's as if you were reading the story of your own life. That was what was happened to me. I woke up when I read the first page. I saw who I was and who I could be."

I didn't have anything close to that reaction upon first reading <i>The Scarlet Letter,</i> but Mia is her own person (character) in a complicated situation, desperate for connection, and okay, I was taking Mia's word for it at this point.

But the story of <i>The Invisible Hour</i> makes a massive shift halfway through, when--spoiler--Mia travels back in time! And I love a time-travel story!

Mia is compelled and able to travel through time because of the power of her determination to meet her heartthrob....Nathaniel Hawthorne. Nathaniel Hawthorne? "I'm in love with my favorite author," she says. Her crush is soon clarified as an all-systems-go teen-girl, can't-resist-him, can't-imagine-life-without-him swirl of emotions and passion. But I didn't really understand why.

Mia reads secretly but endlessly and indiscriminately throughout her childhood. I didn't grasp why she would fixate so completely on this book and this man as her literal saviors.

<i>The Scarlet Letter</i> explores humanity's sins and judgments and offers moral lessons--I could see her responding to those, particularly because of her own origin story and her mother's predicament of unwed pregnancy and parental judgment. And Hawthorne allows for a female character's passion and independence, although these were condemned by the society he writes about.

<b><blockquote>"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 out of things."</b></blockquote>
But <i>The Scarlet Letter?</i> Really? And Nathaniel Hawthorne, an irresistible and unshakeable love interest because of the gorgeousness of his prose? I found myself wanting more justification so I could believe in all of it.

And if there were such obsession and an instant, all-encompassing love, would Mia repeatedly risk upending her beloved Hawthorne's future as she does in <i>The Invisible Hour,</i> threatening even his eventual writing of <i>The Scarlet Letter</i>? "Now that she was before him, Mia wondered if it might be a mistake to tell him anything about his future," the book explains. (Mia has never heard of the butterfly effect, but honestly! Do not tell Nathaniel Hawthorne his future, Mia!) She realizes that altering his life path and writing is a very real danger, yet she continues to insert herself into his path and his life.

I was intrigued by the first half of the book--cult life, the daring attempt to escape it, the haven found in books, and, ultimately, Mia's peaceful second chapter of life and shift in her family circumstances.

I generally love time-travel novels, but I didn't feel engaged by the time-travel situation or feel invested in Mia's inspiration and reasoning for venturing into the past.

I received a prepublication edition of this book courtesy of Atria Books and NetGalley.

Alice Hoffman is also the author of <b><a href="https://www.bossybookworm.com/post/review-of-the-world-that-we-knew-by-alice-hoffman/"><i>The World That We Knew</a></i></b> and over thirty other books.

Another book with a character based upon Nathaniel Hawthorne--although the author treats him very differently as a character--is the historical fiction novel <b><a href="https://www.bossybookworm.com/post/review-of-hester-by-laurie-lico-albanese/"><i>Hester</a></i></b>by Laurie Lico Albanese.

<b>To see my full review on The Bossy Bookworm, or to find out about Bossy reviews and Greedy Reading Lists as soon as they're posted, please see <a href="https://www.bossybookworm.com/post/review-of-the-invisible-hour-by-alice-hoffman/"><i>The Invisible Hour.</a></i></b>

I love a good time travel story. This was not a good time travel story.

Alice Hoffman's The Invisible Hour can't seem to decide what it's about. The first half is about a young girl raised in a cult in western Massachusetts, and her escape from it. At the halfway point, she goes back in time to 1837 and falls in love with Nathaniel Hawthorne. Huh?

This is the first Alice Hoffman book I've read. I have another one on my Kindle but I keep passing it over in favor of other stuff in my TBR pile. Now I'm thinking I'll just delete it. I know Hoffman has a huge following, but if this book is representative of her work, she's not for me.

I liked the first half of the book well enough. The story of Ivy and how she ran away and fell for a charismatic cult leader, the birth of Mia and her upbringing inside the cult. It was a little preachy about women not controlling their own fate, and Hoffman has a few VERY annoying writing style quirks, but not a bad story.

And then, at almost exactly the halfway mark, Mia finds herself in 1837 and things get weird.

Have you ever thought of Nathaniel Hawthorne as a 19th-century hottie? No? Then brace yourself. You're about to enter the world of Scarlet Letter fanfic. In Hoffman's mind, Hawthorne is a little Henry Cavill, a little Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy -- dark, brooding, insanely handsome, more than a little lunatic writer, driven mad by "love" that happened in a matter of days. I mean, I've read The Scarlet Letter and I did NOT get that from it. But whatever. I could have gone with it if the time travel aspect hadn't been so dumb, if the characters weren't so vapid, or if there'd actually been a plot to Part II.

Instead we get unexplained time travel -- how did she get there? Was it Hawthorne's grave? The book itself? The house? Just wishing? And if it was any of those things, how did the bad guy follow her? And if she could just choose to go back, why couldn't he? And then she changes the past, which every time traveler KNOWS you can't do, and the book starts to disappear and then SHE starts to disappear. and it's all very Back to the Future. The personality Mia had started to develop in Part I totally disappears and she becomes just "gorgeous redhead from a mysterious place." Hawthorne is just "temperamental writer in love with mysterious woman he can't have." Hawthorne's sister is "19th century woman who longs to wear pants and Do Things but can't because she was born in the wrong century." Bad guy is "evil yet compelling one-note villain." Boring. So boring.

As for the plot, I saw where Hoffman was trying to go with it. Mia becomes the inspiration for The Scarlet Letter, which wouldn't have been written without her, which means her life wouldn't have been saved by it more than a century later, which means she wouldn't have inspired it . . . it's some pretty shaky circular logic, but it's time travel -- you make allowances for it. But it's poorly developed and poorly explained, and we're not invested in the stakes. The whole thing is a big "so what?" I've read time travel done right, and I'm sure Hoffman has too, so why did we get this mess?

I wish Hoffman had stuck with the plot of Part I -- Mia escapes the cult, largely due to the love and concern of a librarian in her town. Books and the escape they offer literally save her life -- it's not necessary to actually meet Nathaniel Hawthorne for that to be true. I don't know where the story could have gone from there, but surely there were options besides 1837.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.