Master Of Enchantment

In her latest novel, Alice Hoffman works her magic on World War II

- Yolanda Crous

“Usually, I’m trying to escape from reality,” says best-selling author Alice Hoffman, who is noted for embracing magical realism in such novels as Practical Magic, The Dovekeepers, and The Marriage of Opposites.

At first glance, her 28th work of adult fiction might seem like a major departure. Set during the Holocaust, The World That We Knew follows two young Jewish girls, Lea and Ettie, who leave their families behind in Berlin and survive as refugees in France. But despite the grimness of the time, this transcendent new book bears all the hallmarks (and magic) of a Hoffman classic: children and teens forced to navigate the dangers of the world with only intermittent help from adults, a spell that takes on a life of its own in the form of Ava, a golem created from clay to protect and care for Lea during her journey, and a love story with the purity and tensile strength to survive even the horrors of World War II. Watch! spoke with Hoffman about angels, demons, and legends, and what it means to lose a mother.

What inspired you to write this book?