Magic Lessons (Practical Magic #0.1)

by Alice Hoffman

you ever have a child and lose her, a tragedy I wouldn’t wish on any living soul,

what you give up you can learn to live without, even if it causes you heartbreak at the start. Whether you are mortal or not, you go on, even if sorrow nags at

Even when you kept your eyes wide open, the world would surprise you.

Nothing could give her back the time she had wasted on a worthless man.

you cannot love someone you can never know.

When you look into your own future, you may see only what you want to see, and even the wisest woman can make a mistake, especially in matters of love. She’d had the wrong man all along.

the right to be a woman who can do as she pleases.

laws are made to serve the men who create them, and are rarely meant to honor women,

a woman without a husband was free to do as she pleased.

men often destroyed what they didn’t understand.

What men could not understand, they wished to burn.

“Every mistreated creature is dangerous,”

You are my daughter and mine alone, whether we are together or apart.

And then she felt it; the heartbeat she had once carried.

What was done could not be undone, but they were in Manhattan now, under the Tree of Heaven, and after all this time, they were together.

He’s changed, these women said, he’s not the one, it’s all a mistake, save me, help me, give me back my own life.

he must have presented himself wrapped up in a lie, as many men were known to do.

gift given to someone who wants nothing from you is worthless.

“You’ll always be my daughter.” Now and forever, in this life and the life to come, no matter what separated them or what brought them together.

There are none who can fight as fiercely as a mother and a daughter, and none who can forgive more completely.