In time-travel romances, it is generally the man who goes back in time — or sometimes forward in time —and finds the love of his life. Consider the film “Somewhere in Time” or that wonderful Jack Finney novel “Time and Again.” In Alice Hoffman's 2023 novel “The Invisible Hour,” a woman makes that journey and finds that lover. And like the hero of Somewhere in Time, she knows exactly who she is looking for.

Mia is born into a New England cult. Her mother, a pregnant teenager, ran away from home and joined the cult, then married its dictatorial leader, Joel. Rarely is anyone allowed to leave the farm. Parents cannot raise their own children. No books are allowed. Everyone must work hard for the good of the community. Joel controls everything and everyone.

Even so, as a teenager Mia sneaks away to a nearby library, where she finds an old copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne's “The Scarlet Letter,” inscribed, amazingly enough, to her. She steals the book and reads it over and over again.

Later, after her mother's death and with the help of a librarian, Mia manages to escape the farm, but with Joel always in pursuit. She finds refuge back in time in the arms of a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, still struggling to write something worthwhile.

The theme of invisibility runs through Hoffman's book until, near the end, Mia sees the words of her favorite book disappearing and, looking into a mirror, sees that she herself is disappearing. She must return to her own time and let Hawthorne write his great book.

The novel may be about time travel, but don't call it science fiction. It is romantic fantasy, of the kind Alice Hoffman does so well. ( )

Did not finish

This felt like 3 different ideas mashed together with over explained dialogue, emotions and characters. When it switched to a time travel plot I just totally checked out. ( )

The modern-day portions of the book were quite good. They followed Ivy as she fell in with a cult after facing rejection from her family and unborn baby’s father. Then, for a greater portion of the book, her daughter, Mia’s deprogramming and escape from the cult. Ivy’s feelings of entrapment and lack of options even as realizes she has made a mistake in joining the Community were heartbreaking and understandable, as was Mia’s awakening to all that the cult denied her. It was painful to see how their love and concern for each other both kept them trapped and gave them the strength to seek escape.
The execution of the Nathaniel Hawthorne plot line, however, wasn’t all that it could have been. Some interesting bits were floating around in there — Nathaniel’s sister, Elizabeth, seemed like a character that could add to the themes of Mia’s and Ivy’s stories, and there were things to be said about women’s lives in this time and about romanticizing the past. But the magical elements didn’t mesh well with the rest of the story. The first half was grounded firmly in the real world with only the vaguest hint of what was to come, so the sudden introduction of magic that then took over the plot was jarring. The way the magic worked wasn’t clear to me either. How much people from the present traveling to the past impacted history seemed random.
Also, the love story between Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mia wasn’t convincing. I understood Mia’s infatuation with Nathaniel — his book, The Scarlet Letter, played an important role in her life when she was on her to escaping the cult — but not so much Nathaniel’s sudden and supposedly profound love for her. It just… happened, but was played as as deep and consuming as Mia’s but without the reasoning behind it. I didn’t feel chemistry or accept the proposed love there. ( )

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 and I don't know. I'm convinced Alice Hoffman uses magic to make me fall in love with her books. Feels like 2 different stories. Wish they integrated a little better. ( )