abstract:A Discovery of Witches is a 2011 historical-fantasy novel and the debut novel by American scholar Deborah Harkness. It follows the story of Diana Bishop, an alchemical history professor at Oxford University who, after accidentally calling an elusive, long-thought-lost manuscript, is compelled to embrace the magic in her blood she has sought to keep out of her life and engage in a forbidden romance with charming vampire Matthew Clairmont.