The Probable Future (2003)

The Sparrow women have unusual talents: Rebecca can't feel pain, Jenny experiences others' dreams, and Stella envisions how people will die. When Stella begs her father to help prevent a murder, he ends up the chief suspect. Hoffman sets The Probable Future, her 16th novel, in an ethereal world caught between modern-day New England and a 17th-century witch trial. While the story lacks dramatic tension -- too many characters, not enough time to love them all -- Hoffman's lyrical prose again draws you in to the implausible (''She stayed with them like a leaf caught between branches...so translucent you could see right through into the next world''). Not quite as bewitching as 1995's ''Practical Magic,'' but still enchanting.

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