"A Discovery of Witches" Review

“A Discovery of Witches” (Feb. 8, 2011) is the debut novel from Deborah Harkness, a professor of history at the University of Southern California. A fiction novel, it can be dubbed a paranormal romance.  It is replete with witches of the kind and not-so-kind sort, vampires that do not burn in the sun (they don’t sparkle, either) and daemons which are arty in art or arty in logic. Naturally, there are plenty of humans, too. Humans greatly outnumber the total number of creatures from the other three groups put together when once their numbers were more equal to those of creatures.

            This is news to Diana Bishop, who in this book is a descendant of Bridget Bishop (think: Salem Witch Trials). Diana was born to a distinguished lineage of witches on both sides of her family, though she has gone to great lengths to ignore it and live a normal, human existence. A university scholar well-learned in alchemy, she prefers the academic over the mystical, and tries in vain to remain scholarly, even when she feels the presence of other creatures around her: the tingle of her skin when another witch eyes her, the unnerving pressure of a kiss from the gaze of a daemon and the cold, icy feeling from the glare of a vampire.

            Aside from getting grief each year for not participating with her fellow witches, she has flown under the radar for her 30-some years of life. That all changes when she calls Ashmole 782 from Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Suddenly she’s drawing the attention of way too many creatures, including that of a 1500-year-old vampire geneticist called Matthew Clairmont. When she isn’t thinking that she should run away or that she wants to hit him with an oar when she’s out rowing, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. She loves him.  He loves her.

            In the novel, witches can love other witches, vampires other vampires and daemons other daemons, but inter-creature relationships are forbidden, so says the Congregation (composed of three witches, three vampires and three daemons). For Diana and Matthew to seal their love for one another, even with an action as simple as a kiss, is to betray the covenant of the Congregation. Life is now more perilous for Diana than she had thought. Gone are the days when she lived in her ordinary life as a university professor, gone are the casual harassments of witches who are pestering her to join them for Mabon, now her life is seriously in jeopardy with physical harassments that could kill.

            In haste, Diana is swept from the grounds of Oxford into France where she meets Matthew’s mother, Ysabeau, and her housekeeper, Marthe. Whereas Ysabeau is cold and calculating underneath her beautiful vampire complexion and impeccable style, Marthe (also a vampire) is full of warmth and happiness with a great hand at cooking and a strong like for romance novels.

            Eventually, after a very bad scenario involving being kidnapped, interrogated in a body-jarring manner and thrown down a sixty-foot hole by her own creature-kind, the decision is made to cart Diana back to her aunts in the U.S. Back in the house she grew up in, Diana is more comfortable, even with all the extra “residents” around.  Resident ghosts, actually. When Matthew questions that the house is haunted, Diana’s explanation is, “We’re witches – of course the house is haunted.” There are more surprises even stateside; however, including visitors both welcome and not, training and a near-death experience. They will uproot themselves again. Can you guess where the couple will end up next?

             “A Discovery of Witches” reminds me of a grown-up “Twilight,” albeit with older characters and without the giddy behavior that is sometimes associated with being a teenager.  Unlike “Twilight,” however, there is a strong presence of history and science within the story.

             “A Discovery of Witches” is book one in the “All Souls Trilogy.” I will look forward to reading the next installment in 2012. Will you?