Witches, magic, hidden manuscripts, a sexy vampire, time travel- it is all here in this wonderful trilogy by Deborah Harkness.

Beginning in A Discovery of Witches we are introduced to Diana Bishop, a descendant of  one of the Salem witches who is trying to live the “normal” life her parents wanted for her before they died mysteriously leaving her with relatives. Now as a Yale historian, Diana is doing research at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, when one of her searches turns up Ashmole 782 a rare and magical book, also known to magical creatures as the Book of Life.  By calling forth the book and opening it, Diana inadvertently sets off a maelstrom of magic, with various groups vying for control of the book. Needing protection from what she has unleashed she finds help from an unlikely source, a vampire named Matthew Clairmont. Together they try to unlock the mystery of Ashmole 782 even while they find their attraction for each other growing, in spite of the Covenant’s prohibition against it.

The story continues in Shadow of the Night, where Diana and Matthew follow leads concerning Ashmole 782 back in time to Elizabethan England and to Matthew’s friends who call themselves the School of Night.  Hoping that they can find a witch who can train Diana in her growing but unpredictable powers they find a small coterie who begin to help Diana realize her own potential. Their search for traces of the book leads them to the highest reaches of power and they become embroiled in the political intrigue of England and must hurriedly leave before solving the riddle of Ashmole 782 and its missing pages.

The Book of Life finds Diana and Matthew back in present time at Sept-Tours, France, Matthew’s family home. Here, even as they deepen their relationship with each other and with family, they face great danger as those who want to prevent their union gather against them, including Matthew’s son, the powerful vampire Benjamin Fuchs. As these forces gather against them, Diana finally learns to become the weaver of magic that she was destined to become.

These are fun books! Diana, as a reluctant witch, is an interesting character filled with self doubt and yet over the course of the three books she fully comes into her own both as a woman and as a magical person. We don’t see as much character development with Matthew, but his great expanse of life experience makes him interesting as well. Harkness who is a history professor and an avid oenophile with her own wine blog, fills these books with all kinds of historical details and interesting arcana about life in Elizabethan times, as well as introducing us to various wines.  Her knowledge of the science and customs and culture adds an extra dimension and realism to the story. These were great fun to read and enjoy and a great glass of wine to accompany them would not be amiss!

Brenda’s Rating: ***1/2 (3 1/2 Stars out of 5)

Recommend this book to Sharon, Marian and Lauren

Book Study Worthy? Maybe

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