The Invisible Hour

 Alice Hoffman is one of my favorite authors and I really enjoyed reading The Invisible Hour.  The story starts out with Ivy who lives in Boston with her parents. They are not happy to hear that their daughter is pregnant at 17. They insist she give the baby up for adoption. Ivy wants to keep her child so she runs away. At the train station she meets another girl about her age. This new friend tells Ivy of a place they can go and not be judged. Together they hop on a train west. They get to a small town and start walking into the dark night until they find the place. They are welcomed by the group leader who only has eyes on Ivy. Turns out they have joined an oppressive cult. They are not allowed to read. Kids are not allowed to be loud and have fun. Men and women work on the farm long hours. Ivy eventually has a baby girl and she names her Mia. Mothers get to keep their baby for one week and then turn them over to the care of others. Mothers and their children are not supposed to be close. Ivy was a big reader of books as a child and she tells Mia some of the stories. Mia is entranced by the stories. When they go to town to sell their heirloom tomatoes at the farmer's market, Mia sees a building that interests her. Ivy tells her it is a library full of books. Ivy gives Mia permission to make a quick trip inside. Mia goes in and grabs the first book she sees and there is an inscription inside that mentions her name and with love from the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne. The book is The Scarlet Letter. After her mother dies in a farm accident, 18 year old Mia can't take it anymore. She was locked in a barn and tomorrow expects a letter will be burned into her arm for a mistake she has made. Earlier she hid a hammer in the barn and in the night she uses the hammer to break the lock and run into town. She meets with the librarian who agrees to help her. The librarian drives Mia to a friend's house in another town. The friend agrees to take Mia in. Mia really enjoys life outside of the cult. The leader of the cult is looking for her and eventually finds her and tries to take her back. The librarian and her friend protect Mia. One day he is after her and magically Mia goes back in time where she meets, you guessed it, Nathanial Hawthorne. She and Nathanial fall in love. Mia is afraid her presence will negatively affect his writing of The Scarlet Letter. This is a wonderful story.