RA Crossroads No. 1
Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spells
By Neal Wyatt -- Library Journal, 2/6/2008 11:42:00 AM
As Lewis Carroll’s Alice so aptly points out, "What is the use of a book...without pictures or conversations?" Welcome to RA Crossroads, where books, movies, music, and other media converge and whole-collection reader’s advisory service goes where it may. In this inaugual column, Sarah Addison Allen’s Garden Spells leads me down a winding path.
Allen’s Garden Spells is a charming blend of chick lit,
Southern fiction, and magical realism. The Waverley women have been legendary residents of Bascom, NC, for generations. Claire Waverley runs a successful catering business, sells the odd magical potion, and tends the family’s special garden—the central feature of which is an apple tree with particular plans of its own.Claire’s world tilts when a sexy guy who literally sparks purple flashes moves next door and her renegade sister shows up with a daughter, and danger, in tow. I confess that I was caught from the first sentence, folding down pages and rereading sections as I went. Garden Spells is a book that makes you happy to be a reader. I have suggested it many times, and everyone has come back enchanted and wanting more.
So what works well with its captivating blend of romance, magic, and bewitching fun? The first book I thought of was Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic. It is wondrously descriptive of the magical by-products of emotions—singed cuffs on one man, hot elbows on another. And since details like that are part of what makes Garden Spells so delightful, it is good to see them again in a different book.Practical Magic was made into a movie, and while Hollywood did away with some of the subtle notes of the story, it ramped up the visual impact and introduced a fabulous soundtrack. Stevie Nicks features heavily, which is fitting, but Joni Mitchell is there, too. The movie works because it allows readers to sink into the visual world both Allen and Hoffman so effortlessly evoke, and it matches the mood of Garden Spells as well, an effervescent and willingly charmed feeling that is a big part of the book’s allure.
Other titles that work include Paula Wall’s The Rock Orchard, Jennifer Stevenson’s Trash Sex Magic, and Mary Stewart’s Thornyhold, as each features romance, magic, and quirky relationships. Raffaella Barker’s Hens Dancing and Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife also make good suggestions, Barker because the mood matches so well and Niffenegger for readers who particularly enjoy surprising and adept storytelling.
The food Claire Waverley conjures is another thread worth following. It has so fascinated readers that Allen posted some recipes on her web site. Fans wanting more might enjoy Rosalind Creasy’s The Edible Flower Garden. Offer
ing books that focus on the themes and contexts of novels only helps extend their pleasures, and there is much to delight in Creasy’s informative and imaginative cookbook. The food connection leads pretty directly to Joanne Harris’s Chocolat and Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate. Both novels blend food and a touch of magic into the story of women finding their way. Esquivel’s Tita, in particular, with her wedding cake that makes guests cry, is sister at heart to Claire Waverley.Oddly enough, both of these books were also made into movies. Chocolat stars Johnny Depp, which should be inducement enough for anyone. Allen’s second novel, The Sugar Queen, will come out this summer.
