The Practical Magic Books in Order (and What to Read After)
Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic books in order, both ways: by publication year and by story chronology. Where to start, and five witchy novels to read next.
Some links below are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, Achriom earns from qualifying purchases. For books we prefer Bookshop.org, which supports independent bookstores.
Read the Practical Magic books in the order they came out: Practical Magic (1995), The Rules of Magic (2017), Magic Lessons (2020), The Book of Magic (2021). If you’d rather follow the family through time, start with Magic Lessons and read the same four in the order below.
Practical Magic 2, the sequel film based on The Book of Magic, came out on 10 September 2026 (Wikipedia). Alice Hoffman wrote the first book in 1995 and came back to the Owens family more than twenty years later, so the story order and the publication order don’t match. The same page lists The Rules of Magic and Magic Lessons as prequels and The Book of Magic as the sequel.
The four books, two ways
| Publication order | Story order |
|---|---|
| 1. Practical Magic (1995) | 1. Magic Lessons (2020), the 1600s |
| 2. The Rules of Magic (2017) | 2. The Rules of Magic (2017), 1960s New York |
| 3. Magic Lessons (2020) | 3. Practical Magic (1995) |
| 4. The Book of Magic (2021) | 4. The Book of Magic (2021) |
The Book of Magic is last either way. The only book that moves is Practical Magic, and that is the choice you are making. The years above are first-publication years. Achriom’s catalog pages may show a later printing’s year (Practical Magic 2001, The Rules of Magic 2022, Magic Lessons 2021).
Which order is better
Publication order is the better first read, because you meet the Owens women in Practical Magic first and the prequels then fill in a family you already know. Story order spends your first book on a seventeenth-century origin story before you’ve reached the sisters most people come for.
Chronological order is the right call if you’re a rereader, or if you’ve already seen the 1998 film and want the whole line laid out from the start.
The four books, in story order
Magic Lessons (2020)
The earliest book. It opens in 1600s rural England, where Maria Owens, left as a baby in a snowy field, is raised by Hannah Owens, who teaches her the “Nameless Arts.” Abandoned by a man she loves, Maria follows him to Salem, and that is where she casts the curse that follows her descendants (Apple Books). It came out on October 6, 2020. You can add it to your shelf on its Achriom page.
The Rules of Magic (2017)
The prequel that came out first. It is set in 1960s New York and follows Franny, Jet and Vincent Owens, three siblings who learn the truth about their powers and the family curse after a visit to their Aunt Isabelle in Massachusetts (Apple Books). It came out on October 10, 2017. Jet is the aunt who raises Sally and Gillian in Practical Magic, so this is the book that shows you how those women got that way. It has its own page on Achriom.
Practical Magic (1995)
The one everybody means. Sally and Gillian Owens lose their parents and grow up with their aunts in a small Massachusetts town that shuns the family as witches. A love spell goes badly wrong, the sisters turn their backs on magic and on love, and years later Gillian turns up at Sally’s door with her abusive ex-boyfriend’s body in her car (Wikipedia). Wikipedia notes that the 1998 film changes the conflict around Jimmy, so the book’s version of that plot is not the one you saw. Find it on Achriom.
The Book of Magic (2021)
The last book, and the one the sequel film is based on. Jet, now in her eighties, learns she has seven days to live and goes after The Book of the Raven, a dark spellbook that might end the curse, while Sally’s daughters Kylie and Antonia are pulled in too (Publishers Weekly). It runs about 400 pages and landed in October 2021. It leans on the whole family history, so read it last. It is on Achriom too.
Five witchy books to read next
These five share something with Hoffman: families of women, houses that keep secrets, and a curse or a gift passed down.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
Shirley Jackson’s novel about two sisters. Eighteen-year-old Merricat Blackwood lives with her sister Constance and their uncle Julian on an isolated estate, shunned by the village since most of the family died of arsenic poisoning six years before (Wikipedia). Like Hoffman’s book, it is about two sisters and the town that shuns them.
Garden Spells (2007)
Sarah Addison Allen’s novel is the gentle pick. Claire Waverley, a caterer in Bascom, North Carolina, has an apple tree whose fruit shows whoever eats it the biggest event in their future, so she buries the apples to spare people (Wikipedia). Her estranged sister comes home with a daughter. If the part of Hoffman you love is the aunts’ kitchen and garden, this is the book.
The Witching Hour (1990)
Anne Rice’s novel about the Mayfair family of New Orleans, whose fortunes have been guided for generations by a spirit named Lasher (Wikipedia). It is the long, dark, many-generation version of a cursed family, and it is the first book of a trilogy.
Circe (2018)
Madeline Miller retells Greek myths, most notably the Odyssey, from the point of view of the witch Circe, from her childhood among the Titans to her exile on the island of Aiaia (Wikipedia). Like Magic Lessons, it follows one witch’s life from an unwanted childhood to a place of her own, and it is told as a myth rather than a family saga.
The Once and Future Witches (2020)
Alix E. Harrow’s second novel, set in New Salem, Massachusetts in 1893, follows three Eastwood sisters who join the suffragist movement and push for witches’ rights along with the vote (Wikipedia). It is the pick for readers who liked the Salem curse in Magic Lessons and want witchcraft turned into a politics.
Keep the reading somewhere you can ask it questions
Achriom keeps books, films, shows, albums, anime, podcasts and games in one library, with ratings, notes, progress and dates, so Practical Magic can sit beside the 1998 film and whatever you watch next. The librarian answers questions about your own library, in the app, in ChatGPT, in Claude and in Cursor. A fair first question after the last page of The Book of Magic is “what else on my shelf has a cursed family in it?”
The free plan has no limit on what you keep and includes 10 librarian messages a month. Pro is $9.99 a month or $99 a year and raises that to 200. Your library is private by default; you can turn on a public profile later to share reviews, lists and a diary. If you’re moving a Goodreads shelf over, here is how to import your Goodreads library.
What the other book apps do
Achriom is the pick if the same shelf holds the films and shows and you’d like to ask it questions. Goodreads describes itself as the world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations, with shelves for what you’ve finished or plan to read and a feed of what friends are reading; it is the choice if books and friends’ reviews are all you want. For a side-by-side of the options, read the best book tracking apps.
Questions people ask
What order should I read the Practical Magic books in?
Read them in the order they were published: Practical Magic (1995), The Rules of Magic (2017), Magic Lessons (2020), then The Book of Magic (2021). If you want the story in chronological order instead, start with Magic Lessons, then The Rules of Magic, Practical Magic and The Book of Magic.
How many Practical Magic books are there?
Four novels by Alice Hoffman: Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic, Magic Lessons and The Book of Magic.
Which Practical Magic book is the prequel?
Two are. The Rules of Magic (2017) goes back to Franny, Jet and Vincent Owens in 1960s New York, and Magic Lessons (2020) goes back further, to Maria Owens in the 1600s.
Which book is Practical Magic 2 based on?
The Book of Magic (2021), the last novel in the series.
Do I need to read Practical Magic before the prequels?
No. Reading Practical Magic first just means you meet the Owens women before you learn where the curse came from.
What should I read after Practical Magic?
Try We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson for two sisters and a house, or Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen for a gentler family of women with a strange garden. The Witching Hour, Circe and The Once and Future Witches go bigger and darker.