The Literate Kitty

Proper English libraries and staid country manors, drafty French castles built to hold off hordes of invaders, and a haunted New England farmhouse, full of the usual assortment of characters... at least, if one numbers witches, vampires, and demons among the “usual” inhabitants. As improbable as that sounds, it all comes across as a rather “ordinary” sort of world in newcomer Deborah Harkness’s fabulous (and strikingly-different) supernatural tale, A Discovery of Witches . And what a debut this is! Artfully combining historical facts with literature, science, philosophy, myth and lore--plus thoughtfully contemplating the nature of love--Harkness shows off her storytelling chops to great effect. This is an author with some very interesting things to say, and a splendidly-unhackneyed way of going about it. ✠ ~ ✠ ~ ✠ ~ ✠ ~ ✠ ~ ✠ It’s a typical day for American professor Dr. Diana Bishop, sequestered once again in Oxford University’s Bodleian Library behind a huge stack of rare books. An e...