A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

Dr Diana Bishop is the last in a long line of powerful witches, dating back to Salem, but she is in denial of her powers following the traumatic death of her parents when she was a child. She has turned her talents to academia, specialising in the history of science with a focus on alchemy. A research trip to Oxford uncovers an ancient text that draws a great deal of unwanted attention from other witches, daemons and vampires. One vampire in particular, the enigmatic Professor Matthew Clairmont, seems to get in her way at every turn, but is he a protector or a threat? Diana must come to terms with her past and get a handle on her magic to be able to deal with a challenging future. Rather too much detail bogs down the story in places – yes we get the author is familiar with Oxford; we don’t need a map of every street and statue to prove it. Nevertheless the narrative is underpinned by scholarship, which adds an interesting intellectual dimension to the story. When the action and the romance take off the story flys, which is just as well as at nearly 600 pages this Twilight for adults is quite the tome. This first of a trilogy has been made into a TV series, with Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode cast in the lead roles.