By Sarah Willis
"Once the world was divided more evenly between humans and creatures. Now humans are in the majority and creatures make up only ten percent of the world's population." These creatures are witches, vampires and demons. They have their own laws and societies, seldom interact with one another and are never allowed to mate.
Matthew Clairmont, a 1,500-year-old vampire, explains this to Dr. Diana Bishop, a Yale professor specializing in 17th-century chemistry. She is the last in the line of the Bishop and Proctor witches of Salem, but Diana has rejected her heritage, wanting to succeed on her own merits. Her parents were murdered in Africa when Diana was a child.
During a research year at Oxford University, Diana has asked a librarian for what she thought was a simple manuscript about alchemy. Just the fact that "Ashmole 782" is handed to her will end her quiet life as she knows it. Magic words shimmer beneath its surface.
Quickly, she hands it back to the clerk, but several witches and a vampire saw her open it. No one else has been able to call it forth for centuries, and the creatures desperately want that book. Diana is their only means to get it back.
The vampire observing Diana is Clairmont, a wealthy scholar and geneticist. He charms his way into her heart and vows to protect her. Diana doesn't feel the need of his protection, but when a photo arrives of her parents' mutilated bodies, she allows Clairmont to whisk her away to his family chateau in France. The story's drama builds after Diana meets Clairmont's vampire "mother," and strange things begin to happen to Diana.
Readers who thrilled to Elizabeth Kostova's 2005 blockbuster, "The Historian," will note the parallels, but "A Discovery of Witches" is a modern Romeo and Juliet story, with older, wiser lovers. Blood will flow when a witch and a vampire fall for each other.
Author Deborah Harkness, a UCLA history professor, brings vast knowledge and research to the page, creating a fascinating character in Clairmont. A millennium and a half amounts to a lot of back story.
But the book contains too many details, too often repeated. How many times must we be reminded that Clairmont's skin is cold and smells of cloves? Or note the minutiae of everyone's clothes, down to the color and warmth of socks. The pacing would have improved if Harkness had better trusted her readers' imaginations.
Still, "A Discovery of Witches" is enjoyable. But I must warn you: It's a 579-page book that builds in intensity, ending without the strings tied. There must be a sequel coming, or readers won't be happy. They will want more of Diana and Clairmont.
Sarah Willis is a critic and novelist in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.