A Discovery of Witches (book)

A Discovery of Witches is the first installment of the All Souls Trilogy written by Deborah Harkness. It was published on February 8, 2011 by Penguin Books and has been on the New York Times bestseller list.

Warner Bros. optioned the film rights in the summer of 2011, however, that film option expired. The BBC then acquired an option for the material.

On February 8, 2016, Deborah Harkness announced that Jane Tranter and Bad Wolf will be producing a TV series, with Ashley Pharaoh adapting the books and serving as executive producer. Deborah Harkness also will be an executive producer and plans to write several of the episodes. On August 22, 2017, Deborah Harkness announced that Teresa Palmer has been cast as Diana and Matthew Goode as Matthew. Kate Brooke is showrunner and head writer for the series.

Summary
When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford's Bodleian Library, it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family's legacy.

She returns the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer. For witches are not the only otherworldly creatures living alongside humans. There are also creative, unstable daemons and long-lived vampires who become interested in the witch's discovery. They believe that the manuscript contains important clues about the past and the future, and want to know how Diana Bishop has been able to get her hands on the elusive volume.

Chief among the creatures who gather around Diana is vampire Matthew Clairmont, a geneticist with a passion for Darwin. Together, Diana and Matthew embark on a journey to understand the manuscript's secrets. But the relationship that develops between the ages-old vampire and the spellbound witch threatens to unravel the fragile peace that has long existed between creatures and humans—and will certainly transform Diana's world as well.