A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The heroine of A Discovery of Witches is an American called Diana Bishop, over in Oxford to research alchemical manuscripts in the Bodleian library. She calls up a book from the collection of Elias Ashmole; the illustrations are peculiar. Three pages are missing. Words shimmer across the page. Ashmole 782, Diana realises, is a palimpsest, loaded with occult messages protected by magic spells; she touches it, and the book "lets out a small sigh". Could this be because Diana herself is a witch, albeit trying to live in denial of her heritage.

Diana realized that she is being watched. The library is crawling with readers who look human but are in fact vampires, daemons, and witches. The scrutiny of one in particular is bothersome. He's "tall", with "broad shoulders" and "eyes as black as night". His name is Matthew Clairmont, he's a biochemist and a neuroscientist, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a Fellow of All Souls. The mysterious book, Matthew thinks, contains a powerful secret, something to do with witches and vampires and junk DNA. In here, the mingling/interaction between the 3 species are frowned upon. Marriages between them are prohibited.

I liked the way the book is written. This is the first time I read a book by Deborah Harkness. It was well researched on English aristocracies and Salem witches. I enjoyed it and will recommend to friends though it was a long one.



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