“Apples had been the original charm, Eve’s downfall and Lilith’s delight.”
~from The Witches of Cambridge, by Alice Hoffman
There is an Ava Abbott within the heart of every woman I know. A longing for independence, hidden gifts within, and a questioning recognition of the necessity to navigate “womanhood” properly depending upon the time period in which you happen to have been born.
The amazing Alice Hoffman brings these themes to life once again in her newly released novel, The Witches of Cambridge. With masterfully crafted magical realism, Hoffman goes beyond the brilliance of previous works like Practical Magic, The Dovekeepers, and Illumination Night (one of my favorites) to embrace one of the Seven Sisters’ campuses during the height of McArthyism when “appearing normal” was not just a social strategy, but a means of survival.
When the story opens, we meet Ava as a teenager who is struggling under the oppressive home/prison her parents have created “in her best interests.” In their eyes, Ava will never need to leave the safety of the apple farm in Genesis, Maine, which means that trouble will never find her. Ava’s ambition and desires are deeply embedded, however, and when a mysterious black apple begins turning up on her windowsill she breathes in the recognition that she is truly meant for a different life.
“She wanted to be surprised by life, to walk along dark streets and kiss someone as if her life depended upon it” (p. 11).
As Ava’s future unfolds, she moves into the Lilith House on the Radcliffe campus and begins to embrace her previously untapped powers. Ava’s free-spirited, brash roommate Lauren is drawn towards exploring a darker side of magic while paradoxically having an intense, overwhelming fear of displaying any sort of emotional vulnerability, declaring that she has no heart and therefore will never fall in love.
The parallels between 1950’s McArthyism and the Salem Witch Trial era are deeply intertwined within the pages as we meet characters like Jamie Mather (as in Cotton and Increase Mather), an unnamed Tattoo Artist who challenges Lauren’s independent resolve, and the first witch of Cambridge who says “What men don’t understand they will seek to destroy” (p. 164), all while contemplating the exclusionary nature of the relationship between knowledge, education, and power.
The first witch of Cambridge begins shedding light on the historical persecution of women on Harvard’s campus throughout the novel while Ava’s story progresses and young women in the Lilith Society begin going missing. In light of these events, the paranoid, tense, and angry time period begins to fear, judge, and punish from all angles.
In the midst of all this going on, Alice Hoffman opens your heart to all the women in your life who help you through the hardest times and relentlessly remind you that laughter, love, and camaraderie are the very foundation of life. Cheers to Lilith and her (perceived) obstinance! Cheers to the generations of women before us who have paved the way and to all of those who continue to do exactly that! And cheers to Caramel Apple Tart (click for recipe), which should be created and shared among besties at the very next opportune moment! (Though finish reading first, the caramel doesn’t mix well with the pages of a book…)
Hillary Danaher 