# Quote — Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic

> For more than two hundred years, the Owens women have been blamed for everything that has gone wrong in town. If a damp spring arrived, if cows in the pasture gave milk that was runny with blood, if a colt died of colic or a baby was born with a red birthmark stamped onto his cheek, everyone believed that fate must have been twisted, at least a little, by those women over on Magnolia Street. It didn't matter what the problem was-lightning, or locusts, or a death by drowning. It didn't matter if the situation could be explained by logic, or science, or plain bad luck. As soon as there was a hint of trouble or the slightest misfortune, people began pointing their fingers and placing blame. Before long they'd convinced themselves that it wasn't safe to walk past the Owens house after dark, and only the most foolish neighbors would dare to peer over the black wrought-iron fence that circled the yard like a snake. (beginning)

- Author: [Alice Hoffman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alice-hoffman.md)
- Book: [Practical Magic](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alice-hoffman/practical-magic.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alice_Hoffman#Practical_Magic_(1995)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/alice-hoffman/practical-magic/for-more-than

## More from this book

> The lonelier you are, the more you pull away, until humans seem an alien race, with customs and a language you can't begin to understand. (p145)

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alice-hoffman/practical-magic/the-lonelier-you.md)

> I start writing a novel with a question I need answered. Practical Magic addresses serious questions about the place of women in our society-questions that are as important, or more so, than they were twenty-five years ago. Unfortunately, over the past quarter century, the place of a woman in society has not moved forward as we had wished, then and now. There are still many of the same issues left to address: equal pay, childcare, healthcare, sexual assault. Magic may not be able to right these wrongs, but sisterhood just might. The years have only intensified the importance of telling women's stories, and doing our best to ensure that women who have been forced to be silent can speak and tell their own truths.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alice-hoffman/practical-magic/i-start-writing.md)

> Many of us know what it's like to try to escape a family legacy of one sort or another, only to discover that in the long run we carry our heritage with us no matter how far we might run.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alice-hoffman/practical-magic/many-of-us-know.md)