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Have you started building your 2024 to-be-read list? I have! I have advance review copies lined up for the first 5 months of 2024. Here is the list of my most anticipated read for January - May.
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Showing posts with label Deborah Harkness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deborah Harkness. Show all posts
December 30, 2023
Looking Forward to 2024 Books
by Donna Huber
Have you started building your 2024 to-be-read list? I have! I have advance review copies lined up for the first 5 months of 2024. Here is the list of my most anticipated read for January - May.
Have you started building your 2024 to-be-read list? I have! I have advance review copies lined up for the first 5 months of 2024. Here is the list of my most anticipated read for January - May.
October 26, 2020
Book vs TV Series: A Discovery of Witches
by Donna Huber
There are few books that I have been so excited about being turned into a television series. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness is one such series. I was finally able to view it.
May 11, 2020
5 Fantasy Series to Binge Read
by Donna Huber
You've been home for 8 weeks or so, the regular television season has basically wrapped up, and you've watched binge-watched all the Amazon and Netflix originals in a matter of days. So what are you going to do to keep you entertained? Pick up one of these fantasy series that are totally worth binge-reading even if you have read them before. Another awesome thing about these series - it is possible for you to read 3 of them for FREE!
You've been home for 8 weeks or so, the regular television season has basically wrapped up, and you've watched binge-watched all the Amazon and Netflix originals in a matter of days. So what are you going to do to keep you entertained? Pick up one of these fantasy series that are totally worth binge-reading even if you have read them before. Another awesome thing about these series - it is possible for you to read 3 of them for FREE!
November 16, 2018
Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness ~ a Review
by Donna Huber
Time's Convert is a good as I expected it to be. I fell in love with the All Souls Trilogy back in 2012 when I read A Discovery of Witches. Since the conclusion of that series I've wanted more as have all the fans. There is now a television show (it airs in the US in 2019 and has already been renewed for seasons 2 and 3). But really I wanted more books and so I was excited about Time Convert's which is focused on Marcus and Phoebe, two characters from the All Souls Trilogy.
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| How it begins |
August 19, 2015
Deborah Harkness reads from The Book of Life
Living in a small town we don't often get the really big names of publishing for book signings. Are you like me and wonder what it would be like to attend a book event with one of your favorite authors? Thankfully there is YouTube and I'm thankful to book stores and venues video these tour stops. Today, I have a video of Deborah Harkness's The Book of Life tour stop at Politics and Prose. I hope you enjoy!
If you haven't read All Souls Trilogy, you should remedy that today. Buy the trilogy at Amazon.
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small commission is earned when purchases are made at Amazon using any Amazon links on this site. Thank you for supporting Girl Who Reads.
If you haven't read All Souls Trilogy, you should remedy that today. Buy the trilogy at Amazon.
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small commission is earned when purchases are made at Amazon using any Amazon links on this site. Thank you for supporting Girl Who Reads.
May 20, 2015
Waiting on Wednesday: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
by Donna Huber
The exciting conclusion to Deborah Harkness's blockbuster All Souls Trilogy is coming out in paperback on May 26. I like for the books in a series to match and I first heard of A Discovery of Witches (book 1) when the paperback came out so now my collection will be complete. I love this series and have read the first two books in the series about as many times as I read Harry Potter.
I recently saw that the audio version read by Jennifer Ikeda had been added to my digital library system so I'm thinking of checking it out. You can listen to clips here:
To celebrate the upcoming release, I have a fun giveaway you can enter at the bottom of this post. You can also check out my reviews from the series:
And you can read a conversation with Deborah Harkness from last year when the hardcover came out.
And now you you can read an excerpt of The Book of Life:
THE BOOK OF LIFE by Deborah Harkness
Chapter 1 Excerpt
Ghosts didn’t have much substance. All they were composed of was memories and heart. Atop one of Sept-Tours’ round towers, Emily Mather pressed a diaphanous hand against the spot in the center of her chest that even now was heavy with dread.
Does it ever get easier? Her voice, like the rest of her, was almost imperceptible. The watching? The waiting? The knowing?
Not that I’ve noticed, Philippe de Clermont replied shortly. He was perched nearby, studying his own transparent fingers. Of all the things Philippe disliked about being dead—the inability to touch his wife, Ysabeau; his lack of smell or taste; the fact that he had no muscles for a good sparring match—invisibility topped the list. It was a constant reminder of how inconsequential he had become.
Emily’s face fell, and Philippe silently cursed himself. Since she’d died, the witch had been his constant companion, cutting his loneliness in two. What was he thinking, barking at her as if she were a servant?
Perhaps it will be easier when they don’t need us anymore, Philippe said in a gentler tone. He might be the more experienced ghost, but it was Emily who understood the metaphysics of their situation. What the witch had told him went against everything Philippe believed about the afterworld. He thought the living saw the dead because they needed something from them: assistance, forgiveness, retribution. Emily insisted these were nothing more than human myths, and it was only when the living moved on and let go that the dead could appear to them.
This information made Ysabeau’s failure to notice him somewhat easier to bear, but not much.
“I can’t wait to see Em’s reaction. She’s going to be so surprised.” Diana’s warm alto floated up to the battlements.
Diana and Matthew, Emily and Philippe said in unison, peering down to the cobbled courtyard that surrounded the château.
There, Philippe said, pointing at the drive. Even dead, he had vampire sight that was sharper than any human’s. He was also still handsomer than any man had a right to be, with his broad shoulders and devilish grin. He turned the latter on Emily, who couldn’t help grinning back. They are a fine couple, are they not? Look how much my son has changed.
Vampires weren’t supposed to be altered by the passing of time, and therefore Emily expected to see the same black hair, so dark it glinted blue; the same mutable gray-green eyes, cool and remote as a winter sea; the same pale skin and wide mouth. There were a few subtle differences, though, as Philippe suggested. Matthew’s hair was shorter, and he had a beard that made him look even more dangerous, like a pirate. She gasped.
Is Matthew . . . bigger?
He is. I fattened him up when he and Diana were here in 1590. Books were making him soft. Matthew needed to fight more and read less. Philippe had always contended there was such a thing as too much education. Matthew was living proof of it.
Diana looks different, too. More like her mother, with that long, coppery hair, Em said, acknowledging the most obvious change in her niece.
Diana stumbled on a cobblestone, and Matthew’s hand shot out to steady her. Once, Emily had seen Matthew’s incessant hovering as a sign of vampire overprotectiveness. Now, with the perspicacity of a ghost, she realized that this tendency stemmed from his preternatural awareness of every change in Diana’s expression, every shift of mood, every sign of fatigue or hunger. Today, however, Matthew’s concern seemed even more focused and acute.
It’s not just Diana’s hair that has changed. Philippe’s face had a look of wonder. Diana is with child—Matthew’s child.
Emily examined her niece more carefully, using the enhanced grasp of truth that death afforded. Philippe was right—in part. You mean “with children.” Diana is having twins.
Twins, Philippe said in an awed voice. He looked away, distracted by the appearance of his wife. Look, here are Ysabeau and Sarah with Sophie and Margaret.
What will happen now, Philippe? Emily asked, her heart growing heavier with anticipation.
Endings. Beginnings, Philippe said with deliberate vagueness. Change.
Diana has never liked change, Emily said.
That is because Diana is afraid of what she must become, Philippe replied.
Marcus Whitmore had faced horrors aplenty since the night in 1781 when Matthew de Clermont made him a vampire. None had prepared him for today’s ordeal: telling Diana Bishop that her beloved aunt, Emily Mather, was dead.
Marcus had received the phone call from Ysabeau while he and Nathaniel Wilson were watching the television news in the family library. Sophie, Nathaniel’s wife, and their baby, Margaret, were dozing on a nearby sofa.
“The temple,” Ysabeau had said breathlessly, her tone frantic. “Come. At once.”
Marcus had obeyed his grandmother without question, only taking time to shout for his cousin, Gallowglass, and his Aunt Verin on his way out the door.
The summer half-light of evening had lightened further as he approached the clearing at the top of the mountain, brightened by the otherworldly power that Marcus glimpsed through the trees. His hair stood at attention at the magic in the air.
Then he scented the presence of a vampire, Gerbert of Aurillac. And someone else—a witch.
A light, purposeful step sounded down the stone corridor, drawing Marcus out of the past and back into the present. The heavy door opened, creaking as it always did.
From The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness, published on May 26, 2015 by Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright by Deborah Harkness, 2015.
Here's your chance to win a fun gift pack: Diana's commonplace book, All Souls alchemical buttons, and small mirror with ourboros design. (Open to US addresses only)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small commission is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the above link. Thank you for supporting this blog.
The exciting conclusion to Deborah Harkness's blockbuster All Souls Trilogy is coming out in paperback on May 26. I like for the books in a series to match and I first heard of A Discovery of Witches (book 1) when the paperback came out so now my collection will be complete. I love this series and have read the first two books in the series about as many times as I read Harry Potter.
I recently saw that the audio version read by Jennifer Ikeda had been added to my digital library system so I'm thinking of checking it out. You can listen to clips here:
To celebrate the upcoming release, I have a fun giveaway you can enter at the bottom of this post. You can also check out my reviews from the series:
And you can read a conversation with Deborah Harkness from last year when the hardcover came out.
And now you you can read an excerpt of The Book of Life:
Chapter 1 Excerpt
Ghosts didn’t have much substance. All they were composed of was memories and heart. Atop one of Sept-Tours’ round towers, Emily Mather pressed a diaphanous hand against the spot in the center of her chest that even now was heavy with dread.
Does it ever get easier? Her voice, like the rest of her, was almost imperceptible. The watching? The waiting? The knowing?
Not that I’ve noticed, Philippe de Clermont replied shortly. He was perched nearby, studying his own transparent fingers. Of all the things Philippe disliked about being dead—the inability to touch his wife, Ysabeau; his lack of smell or taste; the fact that he had no muscles for a good sparring match—invisibility topped the list. It was a constant reminder of how inconsequential he had become.
Emily’s face fell, and Philippe silently cursed himself. Since she’d died, the witch had been his constant companion, cutting his loneliness in two. What was he thinking, barking at her as if she were a servant?
Perhaps it will be easier when they don’t need us anymore, Philippe said in a gentler tone. He might be the more experienced ghost, but it was Emily who understood the metaphysics of their situation. What the witch had told him went against everything Philippe believed about the afterworld. He thought the living saw the dead because they needed something from them: assistance, forgiveness, retribution. Emily insisted these were nothing more than human myths, and it was only when the living moved on and let go that the dead could appear to them.
This information made Ysabeau’s failure to notice him somewhat easier to bear, but not much.
“I can’t wait to see Em’s reaction. She’s going to be so surprised.” Diana’s warm alto floated up to the battlements.
Diana and Matthew, Emily and Philippe said in unison, peering down to the cobbled courtyard that surrounded the château.
There, Philippe said, pointing at the drive. Even dead, he had vampire sight that was sharper than any human’s. He was also still handsomer than any man had a right to be, with his broad shoulders and devilish grin. He turned the latter on Emily, who couldn’t help grinning back. They are a fine couple, are they not? Look how much my son has changed.
Vampires weren’t supposed to be altered by the passing of time, and therefore Emily expected to see the same black hair, so dark it glinted blue; the same mutable gray-green eyes, cool and remote as a winter sea; the same pale skin and wide mouth. There were a few subtle differences, though, as Philippe suggested. Matthew’s hair was shorter, and he had a beard that made him look even more dangerous, like a pirate. She gasped.
Is Matthew . . . bigger?
He is. I fattened him up when he and Diana were here in 1590. Books were making him soft. Matthew needed to fight more and read less. Philippe had always contended there was such a thing as too much education. Matthew was living proof of it.
Diana looks different, too. More like her mother, with that long, coppery hair, Em said, acknowledging the most obvious change in her niece.
Diana stumbled on a cobblestone, and Matthew’s hand shot out to steady her. Once, Emily had seen Matthew’s incessant hovering as a sign of vampire overprotectiveness. Now, with the perspicacity of a ghost, she realized that this tendency stemmed from his preternatural awareness of every change in Diana’s expression, every shift of mood, every sign of fatigue or hunger. Today, however, Matthew’s concern seemed even more focused and acute.
It’s not just Diana’s hair that has changed. Philippe’s face had a look of wonder. Diana is with child—Matthew’s child.
Emily examined her niece more carefully, using the enhanced grasp of truth that death afforded. Philippe was right—in part. You mean “with children.” Diana is having twins.
Twins, Philippe said in an awed voice. He looked away, distracted by the appearance of his wife. Look, here are Ysabeau and Sarah with Sophie and Margaret.
What will happen now, Philippe? Emily asked, her heart growing heavier with anticipation.
Endings. Beginnings, Philippe said with deliberate vagueness. Change.
Diana has never liked change, Emily said.
That is because Diana is afraid of what she must become, Philippe replied.
Marcus Whitmore had faced horrors aplenty since the night in 1781 when Matthew de Clermont made him a vampire. None had prepared him for today’s ordeal: telling Diana Bishop that her beloved aunt, Emily Mather, was dead.
Marcus had received the phone call from Ysabeau while he and Nathaniel Wilson were watching the television news in the family library. Sophie, Nathaniel’s wife, and their baby, Margaret, were dozing on a nearby sofa.
“The temple,” Ysabeau had said breathlessly, her tone frantic. “Come. At once.”
Marcus had obeyed his grandmother without question, only taking time to shout for his cousin, Gallowglass, and his Aunt Verin on his way out the door.
The summer half-light of evening had lightened further as he approached the clearing at the top of the mountain, brightened by the otherworldly power that Marcus glimpsed through the trees. His hair stood at attention at the magic in the air.
Then he scented the presence of a vampire, Gerbert of Aurillac. And someone else—a witch.
A light, purposeful step sounded down the stone corridor, drawing Marcus out of the past and back into the present. The heavy door opened, creaking as it always did.
From The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness, published on May 26, 2015 by Penguin Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright by Deborah Harkness, 2015.
Buy The Book of Life at Amazon
Here's your chance to win a fun gift pack: Diana's commonplace book, All Souls alchemical buttons, and small mirror with ourboros design. (Open to US addresses only)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Waiting on Wednesday is a book meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small commission is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the above link. Thank you for supporting this blog.
December 10, 2014
Featured Book: The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
Goodreads Choice Award Winner 2014: Fantasy
After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches--with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.
Buy The Book of Life at Amazon
About the Author
My life has been a series of left turns that nevertheless took me in the right direction (though it didn't always seem so at the time). I went to college to be a theater major and ended up studying the Renaissance. I went to grad school to become a college administrator and loved to teach so much I became a college professor instead. I thought I wanted to be a Tudor-Stuart historian, and found myself a historian of science. I started blogging because a friend needed help on a project in 2006 and am still blogging about wine today. I started writing a novel in the fall of 2008, and it became a New York Times Bestseller in February 2011: A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES.website * Goodreads * Twitter * Facebook
Read a Sample
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Send a link to the book you want featured to donna @ girl-who-reads.com. 1 link per author, NO erotica. The link can be to a retail site, Goodreads, or your website.
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July 15, 2014
Review: The Book of Life by @DebHarkness
by Donna Huber
Today is the DAY! The day millions of fans have been waiting on. The day that felt like it wouldn't ever get it here. The day that made adults lay awake in anticipation like children on Christmas Eve. The day that the final book in the All Souls trilogy - THE BOOK OF LIFE comes out.
Book info:
Hardcover
Published: July 2014 by Viking Adult
ISBN13: 9780670025596
Source: Publisher via Netgalley
Read: June 2014
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small is paid by Amazon when purchases are made through the above link. A free egalley was provided for this review.
So be honest, who is staying up all night to read it?
I haven't been this excited about a book release since Harry Potter, and I read The Book of Life a month ago. Seriously, why weren't there any midnight release parties like they did for Harry Potter? Plenty of adults went to those and I'm sure attendance would be high had bookstores done it for this book.
So what did I think about the final installment? Wow! Awesome! One of the best concluding books in a series.
It was one of the most satisfying conclusions to a series that I have ever read. Yet, I didn't really feel like I was saying goodbye to the characters. As soon as I finished the book I wanted to go back and read it again. I've read A Discovery of Witches (read my review) and Shadow of Night (read my review) several times already and I'm sure I will be re-reading the entire series a t least a few dozen more times before I'm ready to move on.
For those who have already discovered this series, you probably feel the same way as me about the characters of Matthew and Diana and the rest of the cast. They felt like real people and I even caught myself on an occasion or two wondering about them in the same way as I do real friends.
If you haven't read this series, have you not been listening to me? For those who grew up with Harry Potter or fell in love with Edward and Bella will find this series very satisfying. Many of the elements that drew readers to those stories can be found within the pages of Harkness's trilogy with the added bonus of fascinating locales and the richness of a historical novel.
Trying not to be spoilerish, I do have to wonder if we have seen the last of this world Harkness has created. The plot arcs began in the previous two books are tied up and resolved to great satisfaction. Yet, new threads appeared which left open the possibility of spinoffs. I for one would absolutely love a book devoted to Gallowglass.
I would love to hear your thoughts on The Book of Life and the entire series.
And since I know you rather be reading The Book of Life than this review, I will just leave you with one last thing...
Buy The Book of Life at Amazon
Hardcover
Published: July 2014 by Viking Adult
ISBN13: 9780670025596
Source: Publisher via Netgalley
Read: June 2014
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small is paid by Amazon when purchases are made through the above link. A free egalley was provided for this review.
July 7, 2014
A Conversation with Deborah Harkness
Just over a week until the release of the highly anticipated conclusion of All Souls trilogy! You still have a week to enter to win a prize pack that include The Book of Life, holographic buttons, and Diana's commonplace book. For those that haven't started the series or maybe your a fun who just needs a little something to tide you over until next Tuesday, here's a great Q&A with Deborah Harkness.
Q: From the moment Matthew and a pregnant Diana arrive back at Sept-Tours and reinstate themselves back into a sprawling family of witches and vampires, it becomes clear that the meaning of family will be an important idea for THE BOOK OF LIFE. How does this unify the whole series? Did you draw on your own life?
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the links above. The views, opinions, and beliefs expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Girl Who Reads.
Q: In your day job, you are a professor of history and science at the University of Southern California and have focused on alchemy in your research. What aspects of this intersection between science and magic do you hope readers will pick up on while reading THE BOOK OF LIFE? There’s quite a bit more lab work in this book!
A. There is. Welcome back to the present! What I hope readers come to appreciate is that science—past or present—is nothing more than a method for asking and answering questions about the world and our place in it. Once, some of those questions were answered alchemically. Today, they might be answered biochemically and genetically. In the future? Who knows. But Matthew is right in suggesting that there are really remarkably few scientific questions and we have been posing them for a very long time. Two of them are: who am I? why am I here?
Q: Much of the conflict in the book seems to mirror issues of race and sexuality in our society, and there seems to be a definite moral conclusion to THE BOOK OF LIFE. Could you discuss this? Do you find that a strength of fantasy novels is their ability to not only to allow readers to escape, but to also challenge them to face important moral issues?
A. Human beings like to sort and categorize. We have done this since the beginnings of recorded history, and probably well back beyond that point. One of the most common ways to do that is to group things that are “alike” and things that are “different.” Often, we fear what is not like us. Many of the world’s ills have stemmed from someone (or a group of someones) deciding what is different is also dangerous. Witches, women, people of color, people of different faiths, people of different sexual orientations—all have been targets of this process of singling others out and labeling them different and therefore undesirable. Like my interest in exploring what a family is, the issue of difference and respect for difference (rather than fear) informed every page of the All Souls Trilogy. And yes, I do think that dealing with fantastic creatures like daemons, vampires, and witches rather than confronting issues of race or sexuality directly can enable readers to think through these issues in a useful way and perhaps come to different conclusions about members of their own families and communities. As I often say when people ask me why supernatural creatures are so popular these days: witches and vampires are monsters to think with.
A. Since time immemorial the family has been an important way for people to organize themselves in the world. In the past, the “traditional” family was a sprawling and blended unit that embraced immediate relatives, in-laws and their immediate families, servants, orphaned children, the children your partner might bring into a family from a previous relationship, and other dependents. Marriage was an equally flexible and elastic concept in many places and times. Given how old my vampires are, and the fact that witches are the keepers of tradition, I wanted to explore from the very first page of the series the truly traditional basis of family: unqualified love and mutual responsibility. That is certainly the meaning of family that my parents taught me.
Q: While there are entire genres devoted to stories of witches, vampires, and ghosts, the idea of a weaver – a witch who weaves original spells – feels very unique to THE BOOK OF LIFE. What resources helped you gain inspiration for Diana’s uniqueness?
A. Believe it or not, my inspiration for weaving came from a branch of mathematics called topology. I became intrigued by mathematical theories of mutability to go along with my alchemical theories of mutability and change. Topology is a mathematical study of shapes and spaces that theorizes how far something can be stretched or twisted without breaking. You could say it’s a mathematical theory of connectivity and continuity (two familiar themes to any reader of the All Souls Trilogy). I wondered if I could come up with a theory of magic that could be comfortably contained within mathematics, one in which magic could be seen to shape and twist reality without breaking it. I used fabric as a metaphor for this worldview with threads and colors shaping human perceptions. Weavers became the witches who were talented at seeing and manipulating the underlying fabric. In topology, mathematicians study knots—unbreakable knots with their ends fused together that can be twisted and shaped. Soon the mathematics and mechanics of Diana’s magic came into focus.
Q: A Discovery of Witches debuted at # 2 on the New York Times bestseller list and Shadow of Night debuted at #1. What has been your reaction to the outpouring of love for the All Souls Trilogy? Was it surprising how taken fans were with Diana and Matthew’s story?
A. It has been amazing—and a bit overwhelming. I was surprised by how quickly readers embraced two central characters who have a considerable number of quirks and challenge our typical notion of what a heroine or hero should be. And I continue to be amazed whenever a new reader pops up, whether one in the US or somewhere like Finland or Japan—to tell me how much they enjoyed being caught up in the world of the Bishops and de Clemonts. Sometimes when I meet readers they ask me how their friends are doing—meaning Diana, or Matthew, or Miriam. That’s an extraordinary experience for a writer.
Q: Diana and Matthew, once again, move around to quite a number of locations in THE BOOK OF LIFE, including New Haven, New Orleans, and a few of our favorite old haunts like Oxford, Madison, and Sept-Tours. What inspired you to place your characters in these locations? Have you visited them yourself?
A. As a writer, I really need to experience the places I write about in my books. I want to know what it smells like, how the air feels when it changes direction, the way the sunlight strikes the windowsill in the morning, the sound of birds and insects. Not every writer may require this, but I do. So I spent time not only in New Haven but undertaking research at the Beinecke Library so that I could understand the rhythms of Diana’s day there. I visited New Orleans several times to imagine my vampires into them. All of the locations I pick are steeped in history and stories about past inhabitants—perfect fuel for any writer’s creative fire.
Q: Did you know back when you wrote A Discovery of Witches how the story would conclude in THE BOOK OF LIFE? Did the direction change once you began the writing process?
A. I knew how the trilogy would end, but I didn’t know exactly how we would get there. The story was well thought out through the beginning of what became The Book of Life, but the chunk between that beginning and the ending (which is as I envisioned it) did change. In part that was because what I had sketched out was too ambitious and complicated—the perils of being not only a first-time trilogy writer but also a first time author. It was very important to me that I resolve and tie up all the threads already in the story so readers had a satisfying conclusion. Early in the writing of The Book of Life it became clear that this wasn’t going to give me much time to introduce new characters or plot twists. I now understand why so many trilogies have four, five, six—or more—books in them. Finishing the trilogy as a trilogy required a lot of determination and a very thick pair of blinders as I left behind characters and story lines that would take me too far from the central story of Diana, Matthew, and the Book of Life.
Q: A Discovery of Witches begins with Diana Bishop stumbling across a lost, enchanted manuscript called Ashmole 782 in Oxford’s Bodleian Library, and the secrets contained in the manuscript are at long last revealed in THE BOOK OF LIFE. You had a similar experience while you were completing your dissertation. What was the story behind your discovery? And how did it inspire the creation of these novels?
A. I did discover a manuscript—not an enchanted one, alas—in the Bodleian Library. It was a manuscript owned by Queen Elizabeth’s astrologer, the mathematician and alchemist John Dee. In the 1570s and 1580s he became interested in using a crystal ball to talk to angels. The angels gave him all kinds of instructions on how to manage his life at home, his work—they even told him to pack up his family and belongings and go to far-away Poland and Prague. In the conversations, Dee asked the angels about a mysterious book in his library called “the Book of Soyga” or “Aldaraia.” No one had ever been able to find it, even though many of Dee’s other books survive in libraries throughout the world. In the summer of 1994 I was spending time in Oxford between finishing my doctorate and starting my first job. It was a wonderfully creative time, since I had no deadlines to worry about and my dissertation on Dee’s angel conversations was complete. As with most discoveries, this discovery of a “lost” manuscript was entirely accidental. I was looking for something else in the Bodleian’s catalogue and in the upper corner of the page was a reference to a book called “Aldaraia.” I knew it couldn’t be Dee’s book, but I called it up anyway. And it turned out it WAS the book (or at least a copy of it). With the help of the Bodleian’s Keeper of Rare Books, I located another copy in the British Library.
Q: Are there other lost books like this in the world?
A. Absolutely! Entire books have been written about famous lost volumes—including works by Plato, Aristotle, and Shakespeare to name just a few. Libraries are full of such treasures, some of them unrecognized and others simply misfiled or mislabeled. And we find lost books outside of libraries, too. In January 2006, a completely unknown manuscript belonging to one of the 17th century’s most prominent scientists, Robert Hooke, was discovered when someone was having the contents of their house valued for auction. The manuscript included minutes of early Royal Society meetings that we presumed were lost forever.
Q: Shadow of Night and A Discovery of Witches have often been compared to young adult fantasy like Twilight, with the caveat that this series is for adults interested in history, science, and academics. Unlike Bella and Edward, Matthew and Diana are card-carrying members of academia who meet in the library of one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Are these characters based on something you found missing in the fantasy genre?
A. There are a lot of adults reading young adult books, and for good reason. Authors who specialize in the young adult market are writing original, compelling stories that can make even the most cynical grownups believe in magic. In writing A Discovery of Witches, I wanted to give adult readers a world no less magical, no less surprising and delightful, but one that included grown-up concerns and activities. These are not your children’s vampires and witches.
Buy The Book of Life at Amazon
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the links above. The views, opinions, and beliefs expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Girl Who Reads.
June 27, 2014
Giveaway: The Book of Life by @DebHarkness
We are just weeks away from the release of The Book of Life, book 3 in the All Souls Trilogy. I have already read my advance copy, but I'm not allowed to share my review until July 15. However, I will say I don't think fans will be disappointed.
Did you miss the giveaway I did a few weeks ago for the holographic buttons and Diana's commonplace book? Well, here is your second chance and the publisher has sweetened the pot to include a hardcover copy of The Book of Life. That's right, you have a chance to win a prize pack that include the buttons, Diana's commonplace book and a hardcover copy of The Book of Life.
I'll have a few more goodies to share in the lead up to the July 15 release including a Q&A with Deborah Harkness herself. And if you haven't started this series, what are you waiting for? Pick up The Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night today.
Pre-order at Amazon
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the links above. The giveaway is sponsored by the publisher who will ship only to US addresses (no PO Boxes).
January 15, 2014
WoW: The Book of Life by @DebHarkness
Did you see it last Thursday in USA Today? Viking revealed the cover for the much anticipated conclusion to Deborah Harkness's All Soul's Trilogy - The Book of Life. Last fall, Harkness announced the final book wouldn't hit shelves until July 2014. Perhaps to appease fans a short excerpt was included with the exclusive cover reveal.
If you saw my tweet, you know I debated long and hard on whether to read the excerpt or not. And 30 seconds later, I read it. If you are wondering if you should read it or not; it's not spoilerish. It is basically the homecoming scenes from the end of Shadow of Night from the point of view of two characters that I thought would not be making an appearance in this installment.
If you are anxiously awaiting this title as much as me, make sure you pre-order The Book of Life at Amazon and add it to your "to read" shelf at Goodreads.
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the above link. Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.
If you saw my tweet, you know I debated long and hard on whether to read the excerpt or not. And 30 seconds later, I read it. If you are wondering if you should read it or not; it's not spoilerish. It is basically the homecoming scenes from the end of Shadow of Night from the point of view of two characters that I thought would not be making an appearance in this installment.
If you are anxiously awaiting this title as much as me, make sure you pre-order The Book of Life at Amazon and add it to your "to read" shelf at Goodreads.
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the above link. Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.
November 1, 2013
Deborah Harkness Announces Release Date
Exciting news came out this week for fans of All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness. Book 3, The Book of Life, has an official release date for US, UK, and Ireland.
Fans were hopeful for a Christmas release of the final installment; however, in August Harkness indicated that would not be possible. And with her announcement this week, fans will be waiting nine more months for this highly anticipated conclusion. That's right - July 15, 2014 - is the official date for the hardcover, ebook, and audio editions in the US, UK, and Ireland, two years after the release of Shadow of Night (July, 2012). Release information for other countries is not yet available.
Though no cover reveals have been made, Harkness included the catalog description with her announcement:
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the above link.
Fans were hopeful for a Christmas release of the final installment; however, in August Harkness indicated that would not be possible. And with her announcement this week, fans will be waiting nine more months for this highly anticipated conclusion. That's right - July 15, 2014 - is the official date for the hardcover, ebook, and audio editions in the US, UK, and Ireland, two years after the release of Shadow of Night (July, 2012). Release information for other countries is not yet available.
Though no cover reveals have been made, Harkness included the catalog description with her announcement:
After traveling through time in SHADOW OF NIGHT, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.If you haven't yet started this series, there is no better time than this holiday season. I would put this series in my Top 5 Favorite Series. For those of us who grew up with the magic of Harry Potter and was sucked into the frenzy that was Twilight, All Souls Trilogy is a must read. Check out my reviews of A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night.
Pre-order Book of Life at Amazon
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the above link.
May 21, 2013
Shadow of Night Giveaway
The PAPERBACK is coming...
Q: A Discovery of Witches debuted at # 2 on the New York Times bestseller list with publications following in 37 countries. What has been your reaction to the outpouring of love for A Discovery of Witches? Was it surprising how taken fans were with Diana and Matthew’s story?
A. It has been amazing—and a bit overwhelming. I was surprised by how quickly readers embraced two central characters who challenge our typical notion of what a heroine or hero should be. And I continue to be amazed whenever a new reader pops up, whether one in the US or somewhere like Finland or Japan—to tell me how much they enjoyed being caught up in Diana’s world.
Q: Last summer, Warner Brothers acquired screen rights to the trilogy, and David Auburn, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer of Proof, has been tapped to pen the screenplay. Are you looking forward to your novels being portrayed on the big screen? What are your favorite casting ideas that you’ve heard from friends and readers?
A. I was thrilled when Warner Brothers wanted to translate the All Souls trilogy from book to screen. At first I was reluctant about the whole idea of a movie, and it actually took me nearly two years to agree to let someone try. The team at Warner Brothers impressed me with their seriousness about the project and their commitment to the characters and story I was trying to tell. Their decision to go with David Auburn confirmed that my faith in them was not misplaced. As for the casting, I deliberately don’t say anything about that! I would hate for any actor or actress to be cast in one of these roles and feel that they didn’t have my total support. I will say, however, that many of my readers’ ideas involve actors who have already played a vampire and I would be very surprised if one of them were asked to be Matthew!
Q: SHADOW OF NIGHT opens on a scene in 1590s Elizabethan England featuring the famous School of Night, a group of historical figures believed to be friends, including Sir Walter Raleigh and playwright Christopher Marlowe. Why did you choose to feature these individuals, and can we expect Diana and Matthew to meet other famous figures from the past?
A. I wrote my master’s thesis on the imagery surrounding Elizabeth I during the last two decades of her reign. One of my main sources was the poem The Shadow of Night by George Chapman—a member of this circle of fascinating men—and that work is dedicated to a mysterious poet named Matthew Roydon about whom we know very little. When I was first thinking about how vampires moved in the world (and this was way back in the autumn of 2008 when I was just beginning A Discovery of Witches) I remembered Roydon and thought “that is the kind of identity a vampire would have, surrounded by interesting people but not the center of the action.” From that moment on I knew the second part of Diana and Matthew’s story would take place among the School of Night. And from a character standpoint, Walter Raleigh, Christopher Marlowe, George Chapman, and the other men associated with the group are irresistible. They were such significant, colorful presences in Elizabethan England.
Q: In SHADOW OF NIGHT, we learn more about the alchemical bonds between Diana and Matthew. In your day job, you are a professor of history and science at the University of Southern California and have focused on alchemy in your research. What aspects of this intersection between science and magic do you hope readers will pick up on while reading SHADOW OF NIGHT?
A. Whereas A Discovery of Witches focused on the literature and symbolism of alchemy, in Shadow of Night I’m able to explore some of the hands-on aspects of this ancient tradition. There is still plenty of symbolism for Diana to think about, but in this volume we go from abstractions and ideals to real transformation and change—which was always my intention with the series. Just as we get to know more about how Elizabethan men and women undertook alchemical experiments, we also get to see Matthew and Diana’s relationship undergo the metamorphosis from new love to something more.
Q: SHADOW OF NIGHT spans the globe, with London, France, and Prague as some of the locales. Did you travel to these destinations for your research?
A. I did. My historical research has been based in London for some time now, so I’ve spent long stretches of time living in the City of London—the oldest part of the metropolis—but I had never been to the Auvergne or Prague. I visited both places while writing the book, and in both cases it was a bit like traveling in time to walk village lanes, old pilgrim roads, and twisting city streets while imagining Diana and Matthew at my side.
Q: Did you have an idea or an outline for SHADOW OF NIGHT when you were writing A Discovery of Witches? Did the direction change once you sat down to write it?
A. I didn’t outline either book in the traditional sense. In both cases I knew what some of the high points were and how the plot moved towards the conclusion, but there were some significant changes during the revision process. This was especially true for SHADOW OF NIGHT, although most of those changes involved moving specific pieces of the plot forward or back to improve the momentum and flow.
Q: A Discovery of Witches begins with Diana Bishop stumbling across a lost, enchanted manuscript called Ashmole 782 in Oxford’s Bodleian Library, whose secrets Diana and Matthew are still trying to uncover in SHADOW OF NIGHT. You had a similar experience while you were completing your dissertation. What was the story behind your discovery? And how did it inspire the creation of these novels?
A. I did discover a manuscript—not an enchanted one, alas—in the Bodleian Library. It was a manuscript owned by Queen Elizabeth’s astrologer, the mathematician and alchemist John Dee. In the 1570s and 1580s he became interested in using a crystal ball to talk to angels. The angels gave him all kinds of instructions on how to manage his life at home, his work—they even told him to pack up his family and belongings and go to far-away Poland and Prague. In the conversations, Dee asked the angels about a mysterious book in his library called “the Book of Soyga” or “Aldaraia.” No one had ever been able to find it, even though many of Dee’s other books survive in libraries throughout the world. In the summer of 1994 I was spending time in Oxford between finishing my doctorate and starting my first job. It was a wonderfully creative time, since I had no deadlines to worry about and my dissertation on Dee’s angel conversations was complete. As with most discoveries, this discovery of a “lost” manuscript was entirely accidental. I was looking for something else in the Bodleian’s catalogue and in the upper corner of the page was a reference to a book called “Aldaraia.” I knew it couldn’t be Dee’s book, but I called it up anyway. And it turned out it WAS the book (or at least a copy of it). With the help of the Bodleian’s Keeper of Rare Books, I located another copy in the British Library.
Q: Are there other lost books like this in the world?
A. Absolutely! Entire books have been written about famous lost volumes—including works by Plato, Aristotle, and Shakespeare to name just a few. Libraries are full of such treasures, some of them unrecognized and others simply misfiled or mislabeled. And we find lost books outside of libraries, too. In January 2006, a completely unknown manuscript belonging to one of the 17th century’s most prominent scientists, Robert Hooke, was discovered when someone was having the contents of their house valued for auction. The manuscript included minutes of early Royal Society meetings that we presumed were lost forever.
Q: Unlike Twilight’s Bella and Edward—hormonal teenagers who meet in the halls of a high school—your leading characters Matthew and Diana are established academics who meet in the library of one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. This is a world where vampires and witches drink wine together, practice yoga and discuss philosophy. Are these characters based on something you found missing in the fantasy genre?
A. There are a lot of adults reading young adult books, and for good reason. Authors who specialize in the young adult market are writing original, compelling stories that can make even the most cynical grownups believe in magic. In writing A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES, I wanted to give adult readers a world no less magical, no less surprising and delightful, but one that included grown-up concerns and activities. These are not your children’s vampires and witches.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affililate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the links above. The giveaway is sponsored by the publisher.
May 28
Get it at Amazon
Get it at Amazon
I love this series and very happy to be able to offer one of my readers a paperback copy of Shadow of Night and collector buttons:
Enjoy the interview with Deborah Harkness and enter to win at the end.
A. It has been amazing—and a bit overwhelming. I was surprised by how quickly readers embraced two central characters who challenge our typical notion of what a heroine or hero should be. And I continue to be amazed whenever a new reader pops up, whether one in the US or somewhere like Finland or Japan—to tell me how much they enjoyed being caught up in Diana’s world.
Q: Last summer, Warner Brothers acquired screen rights to the trilogy, and David Auburn, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer of Proof, has been tapped to pen the screenplay. Are you looking forward to your novels being portrayed on the big screen? What are your favorite casting ideas that you’ve heard from friends and readers?
A. I was thrilled when Warner Brothers wanted to translate the All Souls trilogy from book to screen. At first I was reluctant about the whole idea of a movie, and it actually took me nearly two years to agree to let someone try. The team at Warner Brothers impressed me with their seriousness about the project and their commitment to the characters and story I was trying to tell. Their decision to go with David Auburn confirmed that my faith in them was not misplaced. As for the casting, I deliberately don’t say anything about that! I would hate for any actor or actress to be cast in one of these roles and feel that they didn’t have my total support. I will say, however, that many of my readers’ ideas involve actors who have already played a vampire and I would be very surprised if one of them were asked to be Matthew!
Q: SHADOW OF NIGHT opens on a scene in 1590s Elizabethan England featuring the famous School of Night, a group of historical figures believed to be friends, including Sir Walter Raleigh and playwright Christopher Marlowe. Why did you choose to feature these individuals, and can we expect Diana and Matthew to meet other famous figures from the past?
A. I wrote my master’s thesis on the imagery surrounding Elizabeth I during the last two decades of her reign. One of my main sources was the poem The Shadow of Night by George Chapman—a member of this circle of fascinating men—and that work is dedicated to a mysterious poet named Matthew Roydon about whom we know very little. When I was first thinking about how vampires moved in the world (and this was way back in the autumn of 2008 when I was just beginning A Discovery of Witches) I remembered Roydon and thought “that is the kind of identity a vampire would have, surrounded by interesting people but not the center of the action.” From that moment on I knew the second part of Diana and Matthew’s story would take place among the School of Night. And from a character standpoint, Walter Raleigh, Christopher Marlowe, George Chapman, and the other men associated with the group are irresistible. They were such significant, colorful presences in Elizabethan England.
Q: In SHADOW OF NIGHT, we learn more about the alchemical bonds between Diana and Matthew. In your day job, you are a professor of history and science at the University of Southern California and have focused on alchemy in your research. What aspects of this intersection between science and magic do you hope readers will pick up on while reading SHADOW OF NIGHT?
A. Whereas A Discovery of Witches focused on the literature and symbolism of alchemy, in Shadow of Night I’m able to explore some of the hands-on aspects of this ancient tradition. There is still plenty of symbolism for Diana to think about, but in this volume we go from abstractions and ideals to real transformation and change—which was always my intention with the series. Just as we get to know more about how Elizabethan men and women undertook alchemical experiments, we also get to see Matthew and Diana’s relationship undergo the metamorphosis from new love to something more.
Q: SHADOW OF NIGHT spans the globe, with London, France, and Prague as some of the locales. Did you travel to these destinations for your research?
A. I did. My historical research has been based in London for some time now, so I’ve spent long stretches of time living in the City of London—the oldest part of the metropolis—but I had never been to the Auvergne or Prague. I visited both places while writing the book, and in both cases it was a bit like traveling in time to walk village lanes, old pilgrim roads, and twisting city streets while imagining Diana and Matthew at my side.
Q: Did you have an idea or an outline for SHADOW OF NIGHT when you were writing A Discovery of Witches? Did the direction change once you sat down to write it?
A. I didn’t outline either book in the traditional sense. In both cases I knew what some of the high points were and how the plot moved towards the conclusion, but there were some significant changes during the revision process. This was especially true for SHADOW OF NIGHT, although most of those changes involved moving specific pieces of the plot forward or back to improve the momentum and flow.
Q: A Discovery of Witches begins with Diana Bishop stumbling across a lost, enchanted manuscript called Ashmole 782 in Oxford’s Bodleian Library, whose secrets Diana and Matthew are still trying to uncover in SHADOW OF NIGHT. You had a similar experience while you were completing your dissertation. What was the story behind your discovery? And how did it inspire the creation of these novels?
A. I did discover a manuscript—not an enchanted one, alas—in the Bodleian Library. It was a manuscript owned by Queen Elizabeth’s astrologer, the mathematician and alchemist John Dee. In the 1570s and 1580s he became interested in using a crystal ball to talk to angels. The angels gave him all kinds of instructions on how to manage his life at home, his work—they even told him to pack up his family and belongings and go to far-away Poland and Prague. In the conversations, Dee asked the angels about a mysterious book in his library called “the Book of Soyga” or “Aldaraia.” No one had ever been able to find it, even though many of Dee’s other books survive in libraries throughout the world. In the summer of 1994 I was spending time in Oxford between finishing my doctorate and starting my first job. It was a wonderfully creative time, since I had no deadlines to worry about and my dissertation on Dee’s angel conversations was complete. As with most discoveries, this discovery of a “lost” manuscript was entirely accidental. I was looking for something else in the Bodleian’s catalogue and in the upper corner of the page was a reference to a book called “Aldaraia.” I knew it couldn’t be Dee’s book, but I called it up anyway. And it turned out it WAS the book (or at least a copy of it). With the help of the Bodleian’s Keeper of Rare Books, I located another copy in the British Library.
Q: Are there other lost books like this in the world?
A. Absolutely! Entire books have been written about famous lost volumes—including works by Plato, Aristotle, and Shakespeare to name just a few. Libraries are full of such treasures, some of them unrecognized and others simply misfiled or mislabeled. And we find lost books outside of libraries, too. In January 2006, a completely unknown manuscript belonging to one of the 17th century’s most prominent scientists, Robert Hooke, was discovered when someone was having the contents of their house valued for auction. The manuscript included minutes of early Royal Society meetings that we presumed were lost forever.
Q: Unlike Twilight’s Bella and Edward—hormonal teenagers who meet in the halls of a high school—your leading characters Matthew and Diana are established academics who meet in the library of one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. This is a world where vampires and witches drink wine together, practice yoga and discuss philosophy. Are these characters based on something you found missing in the fantasy genre?
A. There are a lot of adults reading young adult books, and for good reason. Authors who specialize in the young adult market are writing original, compelling stories that can make even the most cynical grownups believe in magic. In writing A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES, I wanted to give adult readers a world no less magical, no less surprising and delightful, but one that included grown-up concerns and activities. These are not your children’s vampires and witches.
Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affililate; a small fee is earned when purchases are made at Amazon through the links above. The giveaway is sponsored by the publisher.
August 11, 2012
As Good as the 1st: Shadow of Night
Hardcover, 584 pages
Published July 2012 by Viking Adult
ISBN13: 9780670023486
Read August 2012
Goodreads, IndieBound, Amazon
I finished the first book A Discovery of Witches (see my review) just days before Shadow of Night came out. Though it took me a while to get to it, I think A Discovery of Witches was my most look forward to reads in my TBR pile. And it didn't disappoint. What I was disappointed about was that my library didn't immediately have Shadow of Night available. I had to wait a month to get my hand on it. I loved it just as much as the first book.
In Shadow of Night, we are transported back to 1590 by Diana's time-walking magic. It wasn't exactly what historian Diana was expecting, but she seemed to adapt better than Matthew. Can you imagine what it would be like to relive a life you already lived? Matthew struggled with being the 1590 Matthew - his ideals and what he thought was acceptable in the 16th century is not how the 21st century Matthew feels anymore.
Shadow of Night read a bit slower for me, but as a commenter on Monday pointed out it was a denser read. That is definitely true. I felt like I was trudging (in a good way) through the thick threads that Diana and Matthew traveled through. When I read A Discovery of Witches, I thought it was more for fans of Twilight, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer as it focused more on the lore of vampires and other creatures. When I finished Shadow of Night, I immediately thought "This is for Harry Potter fans who are now all grown up". We delve more into the magical world that Diana is woefully undereducated about.
Another aspect that made me thing of Harry Potter was the need to re-read it. I have read all the Harry Potter books multiple times. There is so much story in Shadow of Night that you can't absorb it all in the first reading. I was so anxious to get to the end (much like I was for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), that I don't think a grasped all that was taking place. I can't wait until the paperback edition comes out so I can get my own copy (I like my series to match and courtesy of Viking, my copy of A Discovery of Witches is paperback).
The days will start getting shorter soon and Shadow of Night would be an excellent choice to curl up with in the evenings. Get it here: Goodreads, IndieBound, Amazon
Your turn: I think A Discovery of Witches/Shadow of Night would make a great book club/party book. Wine is pretty prominent in the story, so maybe Wine Tasting with All Souls' Trilogy. Would you go to a book club/party? What would make good discussion questions?
July 14, 2012
Must Read: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
by Donna Huber
A Discovery of Witches was a must read for summer. When it was pitched to me a few months back, I was so excited about the book. I even told the publicist that I don't really like fantasy but this book sounded fantastic. And I can tell you that it is indeed FANTASTIC!
Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.
December 27, 2011
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (promo)
Today, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness is available in paperback. Warner Brothers has secured the rights for this title as well as its sequels (Shadow of Night is due out next summer). If you are like me you like to read the books before seeing the movie. And this book looks great (that saying something as I'm picky about my fantasy).
Want a little more background on A Discovery of Witches? Check out this excellent video:
You can find out more about A Discovery of Witches and Deborah Harkness at her website and on Facebook.
Buy at Amazon
Buy Powell's Books
From Goodreads.com: A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.Intrigued? I know I was and thrilled that Penguin Books offered me a copy for review. I haven't had a chance to read it, yet, with the holidays, but my fellow blogger Tami reviewed it over the summer. You can read her review at Bookish Temptations. In addition to offering me a free copy, Penguin will also send one of my readers a copy! All you need to do is leave a comment with a way to contact you should you be the winner. You have until midnight EST on Friday December 30. Then I will pick a winner using Random.org.
Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.
Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.
Want a little more background on A Discovery of Witches? Check out this excellent video:
You can find out more about A Discovery of Witches and Deborah Harkness at her website and on Facebook.
Buy at Amazon
Buy Powell's Books
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