Alice Hoffman Books in Order: All 40+ Books

By Anna Marie CarrollFantasy

Looking for the Alice Hoffman books in order? This guide covers Hoffman’s standalone novels, the Practical Magic books, her other series, YA books, picture books, short fiction, collections, and nonfiction, so you can see her full backlist in one place.

Since most of Hoffman’s adult novels stand on their own, this list starts with her standalone books in publication order before moving into the Owens family books and the rest of her catalog. That keeps the main Alice Hoffman reading order easy to scan without burying the popular Practical Magic series.

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Alice Hoffman Standalone Books in Order

Below is Alice Hoffman’s standalone books list in publication order. These are her adult standalone novels, separate from the Practical Magic books and other series listed later in this guide.

  1. Property Of (1977)
  2. The Drowning Season (1979)
  3. Angel Landing (1980)
  4. White Horses (1982)
  5. Fortune’s Daughter (1985)
  6. Illumination Night (1987)
  7. At Risk (1988)
  8. Seventh Heaven (1990)
  9. Turtle Moon (1992)
  10. Second Nature (1994)
  11. Here on Earth (1997)
  12. Local Girls (1999)
  13. The River King (2000)
  14. Blue Diary (2001)
  15. The Probable Future (2003)
  16. The Ice Queen (2005)
  17. Skylight Confessions (2007)
  18. The Third Angel (2008)
  19. The Story Sisters (2009)
  20. The Red Garden (2011)
  21. The Dovekeepers (2011)
  22. The Museum of Extraordinary Things (2014)
  23. The Marriage of Opposites (2015)
  24. Faithful (2016)
  25. The World That We Knew (2019)
  26. The Invisible Hour (2023)

Practical Magic Series

Practical Magic is Hoffman’s best-known series, and it follows the Owens family across generations of love, loss, curses, and witchcraft. Hoffman has said publication order and chronological order both work, so the better choice depends on how you want to experience the family story.

Practical Magic Books in Publication Order

Publication order is how readers first met the Owens family. The timeline jumps around, but it lets the story unfold the way Hoffman originally revealed it.

  1. Practical Magic (1995)
  2. The Rules of Magic (2017)
  3. Magic Lessons (2020)
  4. The Book of Magic (2021)

Practical Magic Books in Chronological Order

Chronological order starts earlier in the Owens family history and moves forward from there. It’s the cleaner choice if you’d rather follow the family story in a straighter line.

  1. Magic Lessons
  2. The Rules of Magic
  3. Practical Magic
  4. The Book of Magic

Other Alice Hoffman Series

Beyond Practical Magic, Hoffman has a few smaller series and connected story projects. These are separated out so they don’t get buried inside the longer standalone list.

The Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories

These stories follow the Gibson family and their bookstore in Brinkley’s Island, Maine. They’re short, cozy, and a nice fit if you want more of Hoffman’s family-and-magic style in bite-sized form.

  1. The Bookstore Sisters (2022)
  2. The Bookstore Wedding (2024)
  3. The Bookstore Keepers (2025)
  4. The Bookstore Family (2025)

Witches of Cambridge

This series starts with a historical fantasy set in 1950s Cambridge. It follows Ava at Radcliffe College as she’s drawn into a secret sisterhood of witches with roots that stretch back through New England history.

  1. The Witches of Cambridge (2026)

Young Adult and Children’s Books

Hoffman has also written a strong backlist for younger readers, from YA fantasy to picture books. These books carry a lot of the same atmosphere, emotion, and magic that show up in her adult fiction.

Water Tales Series

This is a light fantasy duology that starts with Aquamarine. These books lean younger and breezier than some of Hoffman’s darker adult work.

  1. Aquamarine (2001)
  2. Indigo (2002)

Green Angel Series

This duology is darker and more grief-heavy than it first looks. It follows Green through loss, survival, and healing in a story that feels almost like a fairy tale.

  1. Green Angel (2003)
  2. Green Witch (2010)

Other Young Adult and Middle Grade Books

These books aren’t part of one single series, but they fit together well as Hoffman’s other younger-reader titles. Some lean historical, some lean magical, and all of them feel unmistakably like her.

  1. The Foretelling (2005)
  2. Incantation (2006)
  3. Nightbird (2015)
  4. When We Flew Away (2024)

Picture Books

Hoffman’s picture books make up a smaller part of her catalog, but they belong in a complete guide too. They’re separated here so the main novel lists can stay focused on the longer fiction.

  1. Fireflies: A Winter’s Tale (1997)
  2. Horsefly (2000)
  3. Moondog (2003)

Collections, Anthologies, and Nonfiction

This is where the rest of the backlist fits. It covers short-story collections, individual short fiction, anthology appearances, edited projects, and nonfiction titles outside the novels.

Short Story Collections

If you want more of Hoffman’s voice in shorter form, start here. These books center on her own shorter work rather than one-off anthology appearances.

  1. Blackbird House (2004)
  2. Faerie Knitting: 14 Tales of Love and Magic (2018)

Individual Short Fiction

These are the shorter standalone pieces that don’t need a section of their own. They’re easy extras if you want to keep going after the novels.

  1. Conjure (2014)
  2. Everything My Mother Taught Me (2019)

Anthologies and Edited Projects

These books are anthology appearances or edited projects rather than solo-authored novels. They’re useful for completionist readers, but they aren’t the main place to start.

  1. Ploughshares, Fiction Issue (2003) (Edited by Alice Hoffman)
  2. Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury (2012) includes Conjure.
  3. The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love (2026) (Essay collection with multiple contributors)

Nonfiction

Hoffman’s nonfiction list is short, but Survival Lessons is worth separating from the fiction. It’s a brief, personal book about illness, recovery, and finding your way through hard seasons.

  1. Survival Lessons (2013)

Alice Hoffman Adaptations

The best-known adaptation of Alice Hoffman’s work is the 1998 film Practical Magic. It was directed by Griffin Dunne and starred Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Dianne Wiest, and Stockard Channing. The film was adapted from Hoffman’s 1995 novel Practical Magic.

Warner Bros. also has Practical Magic 2 scheduled for theatrical release on September 11, 2026.

A few other Alice Hoffman books have reached the screen as well. Aquamarine was adapted into a 2006 film directed by Elizabeth Allen and starring Emma Roberts, JoJo, and Sara Paxton. The River King was adapted into a 2004 film directed by Nick Willing and starring Edward Burns and Jennifer Ehle. Hoffman’s official films page also lists Independence Day from 1983, which was based on her original screenplay rather than one of her novels.

The Dovekeepers was adapted as a CBS miniseries that aired in 2015.

About Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, along with books for younger readers, short fiction, and nonfiction. She was born in New York City in 1952, grew up on Long Island, and wrote her debut novel, Property Of, while she was still a student at Stanford.

She is best known for Practical Magic and the Owens family books, but her wider backlist also includes novels such as Here on Earth, The Dovekeepers, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, and The Invisible Hour.

Looking for more books in order?

If you want more author guides like this one, start with my Books in Order index.

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