The Limits of Enchantment: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Graham Joyce (Author) "If I could tell you this in a single sitting, then you might believe all of it, even the strangest part..." (more)
Key Phrases: Bill Myers, Jane Louth, Lord Stokes (more...)

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.

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

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Atria (February 22, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743463447
• ISBN-13: 978-0743463447
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,172,924 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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 (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You can easily get stuck and sleep in a corner of your life, March 11, 2005

By	M. J Leonard "MikeonAlpha" (Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The Times are a changing. It is 1966 and society is undergoing profound change. The sexual revolution is in full force, illegal drugs are have become de rigor, hippies are appearing and camping out in the unlikeliest of places, and men and dogs are orbiting the earth in space capsules. Not much has changed though for, Fern Cullen, who has been living most of her life in a cottage in the Leicestershire countryside with her adopted "Mammy." Mammy is the center of Fern's life, when Fern listens, Mammy answers; and Mammy interprets the world for her. In turn Fern assists Mammy in helping the local girls when they get into the "family way," and also aids her in delivering children.

Mammy is a wise woman in her 70s who relies on a compendium of herbs and natural potions to do her job. She's full of ancient wisdom and is totally in tune with the earth and the wilderness of the world around her. The villagers come to her asking all sorts of advice and she's always available to bless their marriages, provide traditional remedies and support the village's ancient ceremonies. But there's some in the village who are suspect of her ancient ways; thinking that she's full of superstitious hocus-pocus, and one who dabbles in witchcraft.

The outside world is starting to encroach on Mammy's dependable English folk traditions. A young girl dies after coming to Mammy for help. The villagers blame her and gradually begin to turn on her, and for the first time Mammy realizes that no matter how much you try to help people "they always turn on you one day." For almost twenty years Mammy had been Fern's shield and pathway through the world, but suddenly Mammy is sent away to live in an institution-like hospital, and Fern is finally forced to enter the real world.

The National Health Service has not only usurped traditional medicine, but also outlawed its practitioners. Midwives now need certificates, and illegal abortionists can be imprisoned. Doctors and social workers have the power to take people out of their homes and lock them in hospitals and asylums. With the local landowners trying to evict Fern from her cottage, Fern begins to find sides of herself that she never thought existed. Fern must seize the day, rediscover the ability to step one foot in front of the other, and move towards the "chromium light."

She bakes a cake for a wedding, filling it with love; she hands over bundles of mugwort and sage to cure period pains; and fuelled by magic mushrooms, she embarks on a ritual called the Asking, which culminates in her rebirth as a fully-fledged woman. Through this transcendental experience, and haunted by the spirit of Mammy, Fern finds the strength to counter the forces that are out to destroy her.

The Limits of Enchantment is part fantasy heavily steeped in the magical realist tradition, and also part statement on a steadily encroaching modern world that is run by cynical landowners, bureaucrats and politicians who are content to discount eccentrics as mad, and destroy the ancient and wily folk traditions of the English countryside. Contemporary science and traditional mysticism are steadily coming together and it's like a train wreck waiting to happen. This is a remarkable little novel that raises some serious issues about the clash of two very different worlds, but it's also a spellbinding account of one naïve girl's attempts to take on a harsh, and contemptuous system that is intent on getting rid of the old ways. Mike Leonard March 05.

17 of 19 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

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.