![]() ![]() "Magic provides a way of still having room for possibilities, an unlimited sense of what the world offers. "In some ways I think their popularity right now is about our feeling that we still want there to be magic and enchantment in the world," theorizes Harkness. As a historian, she noted that people today were interested in reading about the same sorts of subjects as they would have in the past, including the supernatural. As the story progresses, a forbidden romance starts to bloom between the vampire and the witch.Īccording to Harkness, the novel began as "a thought experiment" after she noticed the plethora of novels surrounding vampires and magic at an airport bookshop. Matthew's vampiric protective instincts set in, and he makes it his responsibility to ensure Diana's safety. When word travels that the book is in Oxford, he races over expecting to see the book but instead, he encounters Diana Bishop. Matthew Clairmont is a vampire who has spent at least 150 years looking for that book. It appears, however, that her discovery had already caught the attention of other creatures, which results in a series of events that slowly brings her witch heritage and family back into her life. Frightened by her clear cosmic connection to Ashmole 782, Diana returns the book. As soon as Diana touches the ancient manuscript, her powers are activated. This manuscript, also known as the Book of Life, has been missing for over 150 years. While researching in the library, Diana requests a book called Ashmole 782. When Diana Bishop returns to Oxford University, her life is flipped upside down. It questions the origin of all supernatural species, drawing on alchemical and historic sources for reference. With the help of a vampire, Matthew Clairmont, Diana sets out to discover more about her powers and gain control over her magic.Ī Discovery of Witches focuses largely on the co-existence of creatures in a world of humans. The later volumes develop her actions to protect herself and her friends and ameliorate a threat to the magical community. This volume is about Diana Bishop discovering her peril and qualities of herself that were unknown to her and discovering romance, friends, and enemies in the magical community. She finds that for her own safety and for the well-being of magical creatures, she must re-think her avoidance of magic and magical creatures. ![]() She discovers a lost manuscript at the Bodleian Library, which not only causes a magical reaction in herself but attracts the attention of others who have long been searching for the manuscript. She has not learned to practice witchcraft and has minimized her interaction with other witches. However, she has rejected this aspect of her life since the death of her parents when she was seven. Synopsis ĭiana Bishop is a Yale history of science professor who is conducting research at the University of Oxford. This followed the early lives of Matthew de Clermont and his soon-to-be son, Marcus MacNeil, during the American Revolution. In June 2019, Harkness released a novella, "Time's Convert". Three seasons of a television adaptation of the trilogy were acquired by Sky One and were broadcast in 2018, 2021, and 2022. She drew upon her academic background as a historian and her studies of alchemy, magic, and the occult.Ī Discovery of Witches is the first installment in the All Souls trilogy, followed by Shadow of Night (2012) and completed with the third novel in the series The Book of Life (2014). The novel began as a " thought experiment" for Harkness, who had previously only published works of historical non-fiction. Comparisons were made between other popular fantasy series, namely Twilight and Harry Potter. It was praised for its intelligence and the mixture of history and fantasy, although some critics felt the plot was trite and the pacing was slow. The book received mostly positive feedback from literary critics. The novel has been translated into more than 36 languages. It has since been released in paperback and also as an ebook. It follows Diana Bishop, a history of science professor at Yale University, as she embraces her magical blood after finding a long-thought-lost manuscript and engages in a forbidden romance with a charming vampire, Matthew Clairmont.Ī Discovery of Witches was first published in hardcover on February 8, 2011, by Penguin Books, becoming a New York Times Best Seller upon its release. Contemporary fantasy, romance, vampire, witchcraft, alchemyĪ Discovery of Witches is a 2011 historical-fantasy novel and the debut novel by American scholar Deborah Harkness. ![]()
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