Classics Corner: The Witching Hour by Anne Rice; Spellbinding Epic Novel About A Family of Witches is Anne Rice’s Best

Classics Corner: The Witching Hour by Anne Rice; Spellbinding Epic Novel About A Family of Witches is Anne Rice’s Best

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: Lestat Who?

Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles is considered her most popular work, but it is far from her best written. At least in this Reader's opinion.

Anne Rice's best work is The Witching Hour, a captivating novel about several generations of a family of witches that is both an epic historical fiction and a spellbinding dark fantasy. Along with Imajica by Clive Barker and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, The Witching Hour is another favorite book that I read this year.




Michael Curry is a 48-year-old house restorer who moved from New Orleans to San Francisco. He survived a near death experience in which he was pulled from the freezing bay by a mysterious woman captaining a yacht. Besides a longing to meet his beautiful rescuer, Michael also has developed psychometry, an ability in which he receives psychic impressions of people by touching their objects. A few times this ability becomes overwhelming as just brushing past objects like clothes, doorknobs, or windows give him these impressions making walking in public areas difficult. Not only that but he is haunted by childhood memories in his native New Orleans in which he walked by a mansion and encountered a creepy ghostly looking gentleman in old-fashioned clothing unseen by his mother. He retreats into alcohol and solitude until he meets his rescuer, Dr. Rowan Mayfair.




Like Michael, Rowan has an interesting ability and a mysterious connection to New Orleans. A neurologist, Rowan has healing powers that have nothing to do with her education and experience as a doctor. She can heal people with a touch but has been known to accidentally kill them as well. She had a couple of victims to her credit including her adopted father.




While Michael's abilities stem from his near-drowning experience, Rowan's abilities appear to be inherited from a family of witches. Even though she is adopted by distant cousins and raised as their daughter, Rowan is the illegitimate daughter of Deirdre Mayfair, a catatonic woman who has been in the care of her domineering aunt, Carlotta.

Oh yes and it is her family manse where Michael encountered the ghostly figure. The Mayfair Family (and a few others) knows about the figure as well. They refer to him as either “The Man” or “Lasher” and he usually appears in the presence of certain specific members as if guarding them and is also seen when said member dies.

Rowan learns about her family at the same time that both her adopted and birth mother die. The deaths send her, Michael, and their new friend Aaron Lightner, a member of the Talamasca, a group that studies paranormal activity, to New Orleans to learn about the history of the mysterious enigmatic Mayfair family.




Rowan and Michael make for a charming couple as they are a study in contrasts. Michael is more emotional and spiritual. He is convinced that he survived his near-death experience because he has to do some good with his abilities. Rowan is more logical and frightened of her abilities wishing they would disappear. Michael has a love of history and a deep connection to the past which is illustrated in his occupation of restoring old houses and his nostalgic feelings for New Orleans. Rowan at first prefers to live in the now, fascinated with medical research and modern living. After she becomes acquainted with Michael and the Mayfairs, Rowan falls in love with this odd family and their history. Michael and Rowan are an excellent team as they become a romantic couple and help each other through their struggles.




The highlight of the book (and the majority of the action) is detailed in a long account that the Talamasca has collected on the Mayfair Family since 17th century Scotland when Petyr Van Abel first met Deborah Mayfair, the daughter of a Scottish woman who was executed as a witch. Petyr helped Deborah escape, and hid her in the Talamasca's Amsterdam headquarters. The lovely Deborah becomes a model for noted Dutch artists like Rembrandt and marries a French count. Petyr meets Deborah again almost twenty years later when she is on trial for witchcraft, accused by her in-laws, and in despair for not only herself but her daughter, Charlotte. Though Peter is unable to save Deborah, he assists Charlotte in her escape and reunites with her years later in Haiti where she heads a plantation and is married to a sickly man. Through Deborah and Charlotte, Peter becomes acquainted with Lasher, a demon who helps the mother and daughter by catering to their needs and continues to be a part of subsequent generations as the family's advisor, lover, familiar, guardian and quite possibly the means of their destruction.




Deborah and Charlotte Mayfair set the pattern of the following generations in which they have extraordinary magical or psychic abilities which are passed from parent to child, mother to daughter mostly (with one exception). The members retain the last name of Mayfair as they travel from France to Haiti ultimately settling in New Orleans in the late 18th century.




The Mayfair Family History is an amazing account as Rice individualizes each member making them brilliant fleshed out characters, an impressive feat considering that she covers nearly 400 years of history. The most intriguing members are the witches: thirteen members that have powerful abilities and are linked by an emerald necklace that they wear on special occasions, their deep connection to Lasher which manifests from infancy, and their designation as the heir to the Mayfair Family legacy. Their strange family legacy of magic and supernatural abilities proves to be a benefit as they become quite powerful because of it but also is destructive as various members fall into unhappy love affairs (some with close family members), violent deaths, and/or self-destructive behaviors.




Among the most interesting of the Mayfair Witches are:

Julien- The only male member with magical abilities, he is active from the mid 19th century to the 1920’s. He is a sophisticated gentleman about town known for his affairs with men and women and his cultural tastes often attending operas and plays. Many of his lovers, especially his male ones, recount his love life which was passionate and stormy as he slept around with just about anyone that moved. He lived to be quite old and died of natural causes.

Mary Beth-One of my favorite characters in the book, Mary Beth, Julien’s niece and possibly daughter, is active from the late 19th century to the 1920’s. She is an ardent businesswoman who increased the Mayfair Family fortune by investing in various companies and technologies. Like Julian, she too has various affairs and dresses like a boy and accompanies Julien to brothels as well as engages in affairs with younger men.

Mary Beth’s savvy business skills brings her family untold wealth and her familial ties, particularly displayed during the family get-togethers that she organizes, allows  th various branches of the Mayfair Family to bond. She too lives to be quite old and dies of cancer.

Stella- Mary Beth's daughter, she is active from the 1910’s to the 1920’s. She is a free-spirited flapper who listens to jazz and flirts with many men including with Stuart Townsend, a member of the Talamasca who disappeared while investigating her. Stella hosts various parties and séances, and brags about her abilities to those outside the family acquiring a reputation as “The Witch of New Orleans”. She also has  a close relationship with her unstable brother, Lionel who during a party shoots  an kills her.

Antha-Stella's daughter, Dierdre's mother, and Rowan's grandmother, she is active from the 1920’s to 1930’s, Antha is more introverted than her mother, Stella and grandmother, Mary Beth. Antha is a romantic budding author who attempts to leave the family legacy behind and settle in New York to begin her writing career. Unfortunately, she is pushed or jumps from a third story window to her death at the Mayfair home.




The other non-magical family members are interesting in their own ways as well from the unstable Lionel, to the secretive Cortland who may be Rowan's biological father, the sweet but mentally disabled, Belle and the ruthless Carlotta who may be responsible for the deaths of various family members. The Mayfairs stand out as individuals and as a unit. It is easy to see why Rowan bonds instantly with the family and despite the scares that she and Michael encounter, is happy to be a part of them.




When the book returns to the present, it drags a bit as Rowan and Michael rebuild the Mayfair house thanks to Rowan inheriting the lot, and Rowan attempts to communicate with Lasher who avoids her until the time is right. However, things begin to pick up when Lasher and Rowan finally meet and the demon reveals his desire to be with her.




Tension and fear develop as the characters’ motives are questioned particularly Lasher's. Is he protecting the family or hurting them? What does he want from them to serve them or to rule over them? Why do the Witches attract him and what is he looking for in them particularly in Rowan? Lasher like the Mayfair Witches builds suspense because even though he fascinates and captivates other characters as well as the Reader, no one knows exactly who he really is and what he wants.

Like the rest of the Mayfairs, Lasher is the type of character that may be fun at a party but only the very foolish would be alone with him.




The story build into a climax as Rowan and Michael learn the reasons for their abilities and why they were called to the Mayfair Home. The conclusion is open-ended as yet another generation is born that will no doubt retain the Mayfair legacy of witchcraft, sexuality, and danger.