| This article is about the first novel in the Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy. You may be looking for the episode of the same name. |
The Witching Hour (1990) by Anne Rice is the first novel in her series Lives of the Mayfair Witches. The novel begins the tale of a family of witches, and a spirit that has guided their fortunes for generations.
Plot[]
In this book we meet some of the trilogy's leading characters: Dr. Rowan Mayfair, a brilliant neurosurgeon who is ignorant of her family history; Michael Curry, a contractor who specializes in the restoration of old homes while dreaming of his childhood in New Orleans and yearning to return there; Aaron Lightner, a psychic scholar and member of the Talamasca; Lasher, a spirit with wicked motives; and the Mayfair Witches, an old Southern family with a taste for poetry and incest. They have a talent for secretiveness and successful business ventures. The majority of the Mayfair Witches are female (with the exception of Julien), and the family line matriarchal in lineage; i.e. families pass down the maiden name "Mayfair" instead of adopting the respective husband's last name. Rowan and Michael fall in love after she saves him from drowning, and when he decides to return to New Orleans, she follows him to learn the secrets of her past against the wishes of her adoptive mother. Aaron has studied the Mayfairs and Lasher from afar for years. He tracks down Michael to share with him the history of the family and the spirit, whom Michael has seen since he was a boy.(He was also interested in Michael because of the psychometric power he purportedly developed since waking from a near drowning experience.) What follows is a gruesome story filled with murder, incest, and betrayal. There are, however, many gaps which can only be filled in by Lasher himself.
Rowan and Michael marry despite all this, and Rowan takes on the responsibilities of the Designee of the Mayfair Legacy. She dreams of a medical center where anyone, regardless of age, race, or financial status, can be treated and healed. She conceives, and it seems as if she and Michael may escape the curse of the Legacy.
This is not to be, however, as Lasher finally reveals himself to Rowan, and explains his wish: to be made flesh so that he may walk the earth again and sets about slowly seducing Rowan through many intense intimate encounters. Secretly thinking that she can outwit this spirit, she agrees to send Michael away from the house on Christmas Day so that Lasher can fulfill his centuries-old ambition. Her plan (to bind Lasher to 'weak matter' which can be destroyed by her mental killing abilities) backfires as Lasher enters her womb, and makes himself at home in the fetus. Rowan immediately goes into labor, which is violent and bloody, and Lasher, the Taltos, is born.
Michael returns to the house then, and seeing what has become of the child that he had desperately wished for, he throws himself at the creature, thinking to kill him. Lasher is much too strong, though, and attempts to drown Michael in the pool.(Upon this second near death experience Michael loses the power in his hands.) Terrified for Michael's life, Rowan drags the creature away, and they run off together.
Throughout the novel there are mentions of the "Thirteen Witches" and the Thirteenth being the "Doorway". This is in reference to Lasher selectively manipulating the Mayfair bloodline so that the thirteenth witch, Rowan, would be more powerful than all the others. Lasher required a witch as powerful as Rowan because she possessed the ability to make him live again. Lasher had possessed dead bodies with the help of Mary Beth and Julien Mayfair (two of the most powerful witches in the family), but due to limits in medical knowledge at the time, he could not reanimate the corpse and was unable to transform the bodies into Taltos form. When Lasher possesses Rowan's baby, the child effectively dies and as Lasher exchanges the cells into the Taltos, Rowan's diagnostic/healing abilities, along with her medical knowledge, are required to keep Lasher from dying.
Characters[]
- Rowan Mayfair - the main character and 13th witch of the Mayfair clan. She is a neurosurgeon. (POV character in the novels for some chapters)
- Lasher - a spirit tied to the Mayfair family
- Michael Curry - a major character and Rowan Mayfair's main love interest (POV character in the novels for some chapters)
- Aaron Lightner - a British member of the Talamasca, a secret order of historians and scholars. He studies the Mayfair Witches.
- Carlotta Mayfair - a lawyer and the great aunt of Deirdre Mayfair who manages the financial accounts of the Mayfair family
- Julien Mayfair - one of the thirteen Mayfair witches conceived according to a diabolical plan
- Stella Mayfair - the 10th witch of the Mayfair clan, the daughter of Mary Beth Mayfair and Julien Mayfair
- Mary Beth Mayfair - one of the thirteen Mayfair witches, baptised and registered as Darcy Monahan's daughter even though she was born ten months after his death, thus making her Julien's daughter
- Ellie Mayfair - a member of the Mayfair clan and the adoptive mother of Rowan Mayfair
- Millie Mayfair - a member of the Mayfair clan, lives at the house on First Street
- Nancy Mayfair - a member of the Mayfair clan, lives in the First Street house
- Aunt Vivian - maternal aunt of Michael Curry.
- Belle Mayfair - daughter of Mary Beth Mayfair. She is the half-sister to Stella and Carlotta. She lives in the house on First Street until her death
- Dr. Larry Petrie - a psychiatrist from a sanitarium, treats Deirdre Mayfair at her home in 1983. (He is the POV character for Part One, Chapter One of The Witching Hour novel.)
- Graham Franklin - the husband of Ellie Mayfair and the adoptive father of Rowan Mayfair
- Therese - Michael Curry's ex-girlfriend
- Dr. Randy Morris - the doctor in San Francisco that treats Michael Curry after his near-death experience