Endless imagination is a staple of childhood. There are entire sections in bookstores devoted to stories of fantasy and magic, yet these prominent displays gradually diminish as you wander into the adult spaces of fiction and literature.
This is not to say that adults don’t have imagination, seeing as it is often adults themselves who author these fantastical stories for children and teens. However, an adult novel based in pure magic is fairly rare, which is only a small piece of what makes “A Discovery of Witches” by Deborah Harkness stand out.
Young scholar and protagonist Diana Bishop is researching alchemy in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Her life is normal and calm, as long as she suppresses the fact that she’s a witch with magic coursing through her veins, as she’s been doing since she was seven years old. However, ignoring her powers is hard to do when she accidentally brings forth, and then sends back, an enchanted alchemical manuscript that hasn’t been seen in more than 150 years. Suddenly, her life is swarmed with magical creatures including witches, daemons and vampires, all wanting the bewitched manuscript she no longer has.
Matthew Clairmont is one of the vampires, drawn to Diana by the rumor of her seemingly impossible discovery. Unlike Diana, he knows that this specific manuscript, called Ashmole 782, holds secrets and answers never before revealed about the very beginning of magical beings. Soon, Matthew is involved in Diana’s life as he attempts to protect her from the others as well as help her solve the mystery of Ashmole 782. Diana is forced to confront her fears and her powers before they overwhelm her.
Harkness writes the novel with all the elements of a children’s fantasy, but allows the story to be grounded in realities. Her characters are intriguing and relatable despite their fantastical identities. Diana is headstrong but sensible, resisting her nature as a witch out of both fear and resentment. Matthew is elusive and mysterious as some vampires tend to be, but he is also fiercely protective due to past experiences and surging emotions.
Through the contemporary setting of the novel in modern-day England, Harkness manages to make the supernatural world of Diana and Matthew feel surprisingly normal, and this allows readers to be comfortable and engaged despite the encroaching magic.
In addition, Harkness manages to balance the fantastical elements of her story with complex concepts of discrimination, prejudice, judgment, manipulation, expectations and even love. The supernatural community created by Harkness is separated and negative despite the shared identity of magical otherness. The witches and vampires don’t trust one another, daemons are looked down upon and all the creatures are constantly competing for high status. This discrimination, though displayed through magical beings, parallels and symbolizes ideas of prejudice in our world today.
Harkness’ reality places witches and vampires against one another in nature, yet Diana and Matthew find themselves entangled despite the disagreements and differences between their supernatural identities. This element sometimes allows a “Romeo and Juliet” dynamic between the two characters. Still, Harkness pulls back from this type of plotline because the possible romance between Diana and Matthew is an acknowledged tension, not the central issue that drives the novel through curves and twists until the end.
“A Discovery of Witches” walks the finely drawn line between exuberant magic and grounded reality. Though most don’t believe in vampires, daemons or witches, Harkness manages to captivate and pull even the most rigid adult minds into a world of ‘maybe.’
