Limits of Enchantment [Paperback]

Graham Joyce (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2006

This is the story of a young woman growing up in the midlands in 1966 - a woman who may be a witch. As a baby, Fern was taken in by Mammy Cullen who schooled her in the art of old hedgerow medicine, of traditional midwifery, herbs, folk songs and tales. She comes of age in the 1960s but lives on the margins of society until a group of Beatniks descends on the small village she calls home. Then a young woman dies after visiting Mammy for a brew to stop her pregnancy, setting off a landslide of events that threatens everything Fern has ever known.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Shaped by reverence for the feminine mystique and leavened with a dash of fantasy, this enthralling novel from British author, Joyce (The Facts of Life) offers a poignant appraisal of an English household steeped in folk traditions and its uneasy transition to contemporary times. Although it's 1966, Mammy Cullen, a beloved midwife in rural Hallaton, still dispenses a kind of herbal medicine that women have practiced since time immemorial. But times are changing and prejudices are building. When one of her remedies appears to kill a patient, the locals turn on Mammy. Her practice falls to Fern, her adopted daughter and apprentice, who soon finds herself confronting contemporary reality in several forms: Arthur, an amorous biker with marriage on his mind; an intrusive commune of feckless hippies who settle next door; and a devious landlord who schemes to evict her from her cottage. Fern's dilemma over whether to pack it all in under these pressures or contrive ways to continue with hedgerow medicine invests the tale with both pathos and humor. Joyce tackled some of this story's themes in his 1992 debut, Dark Sister, but his treatment here is more seasoned and sensitive. Likewise, his ability to write convincingly from a female point of view only improves, and Fern is one of his best realized characters to date. This novel's old-fashioned sense of values and heartwarming depiction of customs of home and community are sure to charm fans and new readers alike.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Fern is being raised by Mammy, a midwife and "wise woman" in rural England circa 1960. She is also her apprentice, learning the skills and lore that will enable her to carry on the traditional medicine that Mammy practices. But after Mammy is injured in a personal attack and hospitalized, Fern must fend for herself. She is linked to the past, in which there was a place for Mammy's way of life, but times are changing; and Fern has to cope with modern-day problems, such as the need to earn a living. With naive wisdom, she discovers her own place in the world, using common sense and guile but also a good dose of what can only be called magic. In desperate times she finds strength and good friends who come to her rescue. Joyce's tale is a coming-of-age novel, a fantasy, and a romance filled with charm and enacted by intriguing characters who should appeal to a wide variety of readers. Danise Hoover
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Phoenix (An Imprint of the Orion Pu (January 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0753819295
• ISBN-13: 978-0753819296
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,890,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Limits of Enchantment, March 28, 2005

By 

K. Freeman (Apple Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Limits of Enchantment: A Novel (Hardcover)

In 1960's Britain, apprentice herb-witch and midwife Fern must deal with her foster mother's illness, hostile landlords, and her own conflicting desires.

This is a sweet, quiet story, told in understated, sophisticated language. The plot -- young person comes of age and joins society by making the right friends -- is familiar, but it is well realized here. Magical elements are vivid but never overexplained, and the subtle characterization works well. To me there's a slight lack of tension and genuine danger, but I still enjoyed the book a lot.

This might appeal to readers of Richard Grant's books about Pippa the witch, and readers of Jonathan Carroll and Gregory Maguire as well as, obviously, those who have enjoyed Joyce's other work.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting, September 3, 2005

By 

Chez "eshem" (Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Limits of Enchantment: A Novel (Hardcover)

At the outset, let me say this: anything written by Graham Joyce is well worth reading.

Having said that, this novel did not invoke the little thrills of supernatural delight that some of his other novels have produced in me - 'Requiem' being by far the best in my opinion. After reading the latter, I immediately procured every available novel written by this author, and in general, have not been disappointed.


With the release of 'Facts of Life', the general ambience of high strangeness common to most of Joyce's works changed - perhaps to suit a wider audience. It obviously worked well, because 'Facts of Life' won the 2003 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, and it seems to me that this novel, The Limits of Enchantment, is in the same genre. It is exactly that: enchanting and charming - but lacking the weird magic that so attracted me to Joyce's work in the first place.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joyce is Magic, September 10, 2005

By 

AuthorStore Editors (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Limits of Enchantment: A Novel (Hardcover)

Ever since reading The Tooth Fairy, we have looked forward to releases from Graham Joyce. In book after book, Mr. Joyce has found a way to connect us with a world just beyond our senses, a world that we suspect exists in our most primitive brains but perhaps have become too "civilized" to accept anymore.

In The Limits of Enchantment, Mr. Joyce tells a tale of modern midwifery (circa late 1960's). Fern is a daughter to Mammy, an elderly midwife whom we might consider a witch. There is a warlock too in an old man named John and many other characters dancing about the shadows who appear to possess or at least believe in hedgerow magic.

This isn't a fantasy book though. It's a tale of tough living in small-town England. It's a social tale about class and power and the cycle of life as the reigns are passed down from one generation to the next.

Fern is passing into true adulthood and she is unsure of herself, unsure of the way life seems to be pressing itself in on her. She wants to believe in the old ways but she's not sure. She wants to give in to love with a local man, but again she's unsure. This is a powerful book with a few twists and turns to keep the pages flying.

Try to read it and not come away looking for ravens in the sky and eyes peeping from a hedge. Try to read it and not feel a true sense of humanity when the end comes. These emotions come whether you want them or not, just as life presses in on Fern no matter how much she'd rather run.