The Witching Hour: Lives of the Mayfair Witches

The book is much better than the tv series. I don't really know why they cut the house renovation out. Grand Designs is a very popular program. The restoration of the grand Mayfair house was like a witch version of Grand Designs. And whatever happened to Michael Curry? Who knows.

This book is so inspiring to me, that I feel I must read it every 3-5 years, of course this also includes Lasher and Taltos all from the same trilogy. The way Anne rice tells her stories are so enchanting and imaginative, that you feel like you are experiencing the stories together with the main characters. For new readers I can promise you, this is something you experience in almost all her novels. The way she plays with words and make you fall in love with all her hero's and heroin's, I have never met in other novels. So I must admit, that I come back to the Anne Rice universe quite often, and follow her immensely satisfying and creative storytelling Whenever i have the time for it. I use her books as healing when I feel lonely, as inspiration when live feels dull and tasteless or when I just want enjoy a great story. The only bad thing I can say about her novels, is that they end. I get so immersed in them, that I certainly do not enjoy it when the final chapter comes nearer :-) Best regards A admirer from the North.

Set primarily in New Orleans, this is a very atmospheric read. Of all the places in the US that I wouldn't mind visiting it is probably that city and this book plays no small part in it. Primarily about Rowan Mayfair, a neurosurgeon in San Francisco who was adopted at birth and starts to find out about her birth family after the death of her adoptive parents, and Michael Curry, a period house restorer who after a near death experience begins an interaction with Rowan and her Mayfair family. I don't think I would call this a horror novel, nothing particularly scary happens but it does build a rich atmosphere of danger, little and large hints that things are not quite right with the Mayfair family. Our two main characters are both fairly well drawn though there is more than a hint of Mary/Gary Stu about them. Both beautiful and rich and well educated with impeccable taste etc. The real selling point of this book is the history of the Mayfair family. I'd say a good third of this very large book is basically a written record of it, with some flashbacks thrown in as well. Some might find it boring but I thought it was the best bit. Anne Rice really invokes a sense of different times and places as the earliest bits go back to the seventeenth century. The ending felt somewhat rushed though which is surprising considering the length of the story. It also leaves on a bit of cliffhanger which I dislike. Be warned there is quite a lot of explicit sex scenes in the book, as well as references to rape and incest so if you dislike that probably stay away. However by and large I really enjoyed this, I was totally caught up in the story and seduced by the lifestyle portrayed. It is fairly melodramatic and overly long but in the right moment, as I was, this is a great read. PS If there is an organisation called The Talamasca, I would like to join, thanks.

Great company to get books from,had an issue with the delivery but they sorted it all out fast an efficiently,refund was fast ,very helpful and understanding,thanks😊

I am really enjoying The Witch Hour by Anne Rice, the book is in excellent condition I would recommend this seller to others 😊

Be warned that if you wear glasses, the print in this book is very small.

From the moment I purchased this book I just could not wait to sit down an read it. I found it extremely gripping. I was really taken in by the powerful story line an all the characters. It was like being in a different world. I would read it again....I liked it so much. One of Anne Rice Best Novels in my opinion !

Have read this book quite a few years ago, absolutely brilliant as now I want to read it again as with all the series of which I intend to do again

Yo ya había leído estos libros en español, pero poder leerlos en inglés, en su idioma original, no hay comparación, además de que me salió baratísimo comprar los 3 y nuevos, en Amazon, porque en otras páginas este sólo me hubiera costado 900 pesos y llega en 20 días, estos me llegaron como en 2 y están super bien, y la historia bueno, si conocen a Anne Rice por sus crónicas vampíricas, conózcanla por las vidas de las brujas de Mayfair.

Eigentlich sind Autoren die über Vampire, Werwölfe oder in diesem Fall Hexen schreiben leider schnell bei mir unten durch und das sage ich als überzeugter Fantasy Fan. Deren Bücher lesen sich oft eher wie erotische Fantasien anstatt ernsthafter Geschichten die diesen mystischen Figuren gerecht werden. The Witching Hour von Anne Rice hat mich jedoch vollkommen überzeugt und muss sagen ich habe schon lange kein so gutes Buch mehr gelesen! Die Geschichte handelt von den Mayfairs, einer alten Familie die schon seit Jahrhunderten Frauen und Männer mit übernatürlichen Fähigkeiten hervorbringt. Die mächtigste Hexe unter ihnen bildete dabei immer das Familienoberhaupt und ist in der Lage das geheimnisvolle Wesen Lasher zu sehen, welches von Mutter zu Tochter weitervererbt wird. Ich fand es beim Lesen großartig, wie mysteriös diese Familie am Anfang eingeführt wird und wie man immer mehr Storyhäppchen zugeworfen bekommt. Dabei stellten sich mir spannende Fragen wie: Was oder wer ist dieser Lasher?, Warum kann die Hauptfigur mit ihren Gedanken töten?, Wer ist für die Morde in der Vergangenheit der Familie verantwortlich? oder woher die Mayfair Hexen überhaupt kommen. Und diese Fragen wurden im Buch nicht übereilt abgearbeitet, sondern ich wurde mit immer mehr Hinweisen zu den verstörenden Antworten hingeführt. Besonders das Finale des Buches glänzt mit psychologischem Horror sowie schwarzer Magie und hier ist der Titel des Buches dann auch Programm. Das alte Mayfair Haus in New Orleans, wo vieles von der Haupthandlung stattfindet, war für mich beim Lesen von besonders großer Faszination. Dem Haus wurde von der Autorin so viel Geschichte und Leben eingehaucht, dass man förmlich spüren kann, wie schwer die dortigen Morde und die tragischen Schicksale der Mayfairs auf dem Gebäude lasten. The Witching Hour ist ein sehr langes Buch, aber ich hätte es nicht kürzer gewollt, da sich jedes Kapitel relevant anfühlt und liest. Fazit: Ein cleverer Mix aus Hexenmythos, Familiensaga, Okkultismus, paranormalen Thriller und Fantasy der seinesgleichen sucht.

Book is one of the best from Anne Rice I’ve read so far. One of those books that get you really pelased from it being long, and that you savour every page.

Amazing read. Keeps you hooked

This may be my all time favorite book. Ever. I first read this book when I was 9 years old. I skimmed through it, reading bits and pieces. As I got older, I kept picking this book up and re-reading it, gleaning more and more of the information contained within the text. So many different stories, so many different characters. I remember re-enacting some of the stories with my dolls. This novel is epic, both in length and in the story. Dr. Rowan Mayfair discovers that she is adopted several years after the death of her adoptive parents and after the death of her biological mother, a woman she never even knew existed. Rowan is an heiress to a massive fortune and a large mansion in the Garden District in New Orleans. Along with the house and fortune, Rowan inherits a massive family with a long and twisted history and a family ghost. Maybe I love this novel because I too, am adopted. I think every adopted child fantasizes about their biological parents,, imagining them to be someone famous, royalty or very wealthy. Anne Rice created a character that seems absolutely real from the beginning, coming alive off the page and turning into a living, breathing woman before your eyes. All of Anne Rice's characters throughout the novel have a tendency to leap off the page and become real for the reader. I can almost hear their voices, accents and inflections in the dialogue, as if I was watching a mini-series in my head. With each re-read of this book, I enjoy it more and more. With each turn of the very last page, I feel as though I have uncovered yet another dark secret from within the novel. A sense of accomplishment comes every time I read the last few words. Not only have I read this novel over and over again, I have also read every other novel Anne Rice has published to date. I think this book shines brighter than any of her other novels or series. Don't misunderstand me, I loved reading her other novels, but this one has always seemed like the best of the best. One of the characters in The Witching Hour, Michael Curry, re-reads Charles Dickens' Great Expectations over and over again because it is his favorite book and never fails to capture his imagination. I feel the same way about The Witching Hour and read it any time I need to escape from reality. This book has it all: grand plantations, townhouses, a ghost story, family secrets, family history, witches, and a mystery to solve. This novel never fails to suck me in, transport me to the streets of the Garden District and into the Mayfair Family history. I have never been to New Orleans, but I know it would feel familiar if I visited. I would recognize the places in the novel that Anne Rice describes. It wouldn't surprise me to see a twisted old woman sitting on a screened in porch in a rocking chair and know that she was Deirdre Mayfair, or see an old Englishman standing on a street corner and know it was Aaron Lightner. Anne Rice may not know it, but I think that she may have written one of the best books in literary history with The Witching Hour. I can't ever get enough of it, that is the basis for a damn good novel: one that you never want to end.