Discovery Of Witches, A (Book 1 Of All Souls Trilogy)

Description: It begins with absence and desire. It begins with blood and fear. It begins with a discovery of witches. When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it's an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now Diana has unwittingly exposed herself to a world she's kept at bay for years; one of powerful witches, creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires. Sensing the significance of Diana's discovery, the creatures gather in Oxford, among them the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire genticist. Diana is inexplicably drawn to Matthew and, in a shadowy world of half-truths and old enmities, ties herself to him without fully understanding the ancient line they are crossing. As they begin to unlock the secrets of the manuscript and their feelings for each other deepen, so the fragile balance of peace unravels...

Review: 'Intelligent and off-the-wall, it will be irresistible to Twilight fans' -- The Sunday Times 'A bubbling cauldron of illicit desire...all the ingredients for an assured saga that blends romance with fantasy' -- Daily Mail 'An inventive addition to the supernatural craze... Historian Harkness's racy paranormal romance has exciting amounts of spells, kisses and battles, and is recounted with enchanting, page-turning panache' -- Marie Claire 'A romp through magical academia' -- Guardian '...a grand romance smartly dressed up in the fashion for the occult...Sauced up with magic as well as being intelligent, the novel will be irresistible to Twilight fans' -- The Sunday Times

Author Biography: Deborah Harkness is a professor of history at USC, specialising in science and medicine in early modern Europe. She is the author most recently of THE JEWEL HOUSE (Yale, 2007), based on her ground-breaking work on how science was practiced in Elizabethan London. (And she really did once find a missing manuscript in the Bodleian Library!)