A Discovery of Witches
A novel by Deborah Harkness – first installment on the “All Souls Trilogy”
579 pages
Published by Penguin Group
I’m not a big reader of Vampire novels. As far as literary metaphors go, I prefer mine a little less bloody. The more recent creations aren’t even literary. And for the sake of entertainment, I enjoy mysteries better. Still, my neighbor paid many compliments to A Discovery of Witches, and she’s an avid reader, so I decided to give it a try. To my surprise, I had a great time.
Diana Bishop finds Ashmole 782, a mysterious manuscript, and meets an extraordinary man in the magnificent Bodleian Library in Oxford. A promise of mystery and romance in a fabulous setting, but wait, there’s much more. Diana is a descendant of Salem witches, and Mathew Clairmont is a vampire. In Deborah Harkness novel, daemons, vampires and witches share our world, but they can’t either meddle on humans’ affairs, or have interracial-relationships – for lack of a better term.
The quiet life of a scholar, which Diana worked so hard to build, crumbles, as witches, daemons and Matthew seem attracted to her and to her ability to summon the spellbound Ashmole 782. The powers she tried to ignore all her life burst out without notice, but when she consciously wants to use them she can’t. And to make things more complicated she falls for the vampire, a love forbidden by the Congregation.
While fleeing the Congregation’s persecution, Diana and Matthew embark on a journey of self-discovery, and try to unravel the mysteries surrounding Ashmole 782.
I was immediately taken by the many mysteries in the plot, and as it evolved, I was delighted by Harkness’ ability to weave history, literary references, and her love of wine so naturally in the story.