63 pages • 2 hours read
The Book of Magic
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Important Quotes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness or death, and substance use.
“Some stories begin at the beginning and others begin at the end, but all the best stories begin in a library.”
(Part 1, Chapter 1, Page 3)
The opening line of The Book of Magic immediately introduces one of the novel’s themes: The Power of Books. It establishes libraries as places of central importance and foreshadows that at least one library is a primary setting of the story.
“Perhaps, if they were lucky, one of the aunts would grant them an elixir, stored in the pantry or in the greenhouse, well out of Sally’s sight. Star tulip to decipher dreams, blue beads for protection, garlic, salt, and rosemary to dispel evil, or the most sought-after cure, Love Potion Number Nine, which consisted of anise, rosemary, honey, and cloves all simmered for nine hours and always costing $9.99.”
(Part 1, Chapter 1, Page 10)
This is one of the first magical lists that the novel includes. It draws upon historical grimoires, which contain many lists of plants and objects that can help in healing ailments, as well as lists of names of divine and demonic beings. This is a list of green, or healing, magic: a kind of magic that can be learned.
“To destroy a book seemed an unnatural act, especially one written by a woman of great talent and skill.”
(Part 1, Chapter 1, Page 36)
Even though The Book of the Raven ruined her daughter’s life, Maria Owens couldn’t bear to destroy it. This thematically develops the power of books. In past generations, women were kept illiterate to limit their power. Few women were writing in the Renaissance, when The Book of the Raven was written, and Maria doesn’t want to erase the author’s history: the story of Amelia Bassano.
