A Discovery of Witches: A Novel
Deborah Harkness
4.5
The Black Bird Oracle: A Novel
by Deborah HarknessCategory
About this book
Diana Bishop journeys to the darkest places within herself—and her family history—in the highly anticipated fifth novel of the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling All Souls series. “The Black Bird Oracle deftly explores the nexus of memory, history, and parenthood—the magic, pain, and promises mothers pass onto their children.”—Jodi Picoult Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, an Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clermont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line. Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana. On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family’s dark past and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it. In this stunning new novel, grand in scope, Deborah Harkness deepens the beloved world of All Souls with powerful new magic and long-hidden secrets, and the path Diana finds at Ravenswood leads to the most consequential moments yet in this cherished series. * This audiobook edition comes with a downloadable PDF including a family tree.
Available Formats
Kindle: $13.99 Audiobook: $0.00
What readers are saying
Paula Chavez TalleyGrowing Pians for Diana and Matthew
"One of the pitfalls of book series is that the main characters grow stale. I think Deborah Harkness wanted to avoid this, and so instead of merely setting Diana and Matthew on another adventure, she gave them the choice to continue on as before, or actually evolve to the next level. And she gives them that choice right on the pages of the story, so that we can watch them wrestle with the decision. Actually, the decision is Diana’s, which is one of the main questions the book explores: does a woman have the right to chart her own course, even when a husband and children will be affected. The same question, we learn, was one that was integral to the marriage of Diana’s parents, Rebecca and Stephen. And the course Rebecca chose, to sublimate her talents and interests in deference to her husband’s wishes and her own desire to be a wife and mother, is one that has deep repercussions for Diana. Matthew does have a role here. Will he make room in his heart for the Diana his wife wants to grow into, and support her efforts to step into the realm of higher magic, or will his fear of the “Dark” and its perceived risks frighten him enough to block her path? So both Diana and Matthew are challenged to grow as people and creatures of power. Other things happen, of course, and we meet a whole new cast of characters, some delightful and some not. And we meet Diana and Matthew’s children, Pip and Becca, who are as powerful and quirky and delightful as we might expect of children of a vampire and witch. But the main story is concerned with personal growth, and how one navigates fear and danger. Now I want a deck of Black Bird Oracle cards! I think Ms. Harkness should merchandise them, I would certainly buy a pack. :-) P.S. I should add that we meet the other half of Diana’s family—her father’s clan, the Proctors. Stephen avoided them his entire life, so they are not only new to Diana, but a revelation in terms of what they bring to her (and her children’s) magical heritage. I think my favorite parts of the book are the scenes where Diana is simply sitting with them and learning new magic, and discovering how much they enrich her life. ["
August 31, 2024 Verified Purchase
MegWas like opening the door to a magical secret garden
"Harkness has achieved the unlikely in this fifth book in the discovery of witches series: a book as good as the first one that opens up a whole new world of character development. Many series start to pall after the third or fourth installment, but this was a tour de force that leaves us begging for more. The story was visceral, magical and evocative. I know I will reread and eagerly await the next installment. Brava Professor Harkness. I haven't felt like this since Harry went to Hogwarts. The depth of the Proctor home at Ravenwood was profound and practically tangible. I can smell it. Spoilers My only complaint is the dubious right the congregation has to reign over creatures who never agreed to it. It's so egregious it feels like a plot hole. There's no voting, no seeming rhyme or reason of who gets on the witches congregation. Why wasn't Satu permanently expelled from the congregation after an attack on Diana? What laws are the witches required to follow? Each coven appears to be a self governing body but it makes no sense that a single body in a different country could have any authority over creatures around the world, especially when governing without the consent of the governed. 3 representatives also seems like an arbitrarily small number given the complexity of the witches rooms on the island. Where are the staff? I hope some of this is solved in the next book. It's the only thing that really marred my enjoyment. loved the ghosts! ["
August 1, 2024 Verified Purchase