--- product_id: 1183731 title: "A Discovery of Witches" price: "₹ 2659" currency: INR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.in/products/1183731-a-discovery-of-witches store_origin: IN region: India --- # A Discovery of Witches **Price:** ₹ 2659 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** A Discovery of Witches - **How much does it cost?** ₹ 2659 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.in](https://www.desertcart.in/products/1183731-a-discovery-of-witches) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Book one of the New York Times bestselling All Souls series, from the author of The Black Bird Oracle. Look for the hit series “A Discovery of Witches,” now streaming on Netflix “A wonderfully imaginative grown-up fantasy with all the magic of Harry Potter and Twilight ” ( People ). Deborah Harkness’s sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches , has brought her into the spotlight and galvanized fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782 , deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont. Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting tale of magic and suspense. The story continues in book two, Shadow of Night , book three, The Book of Life , and the fourth in the series, Time’s Convert . Review: Great Read - Great story totally worth the read recommend the entire trilogy I love the romance between both the characters. Character development is awesome. Review: One of the best books out there - It's rare to find a book that you think about even when you're not reading it and whose world you're more involved in than your own. But that's how it was for me with Deborah Harkness' A Discovery of Witches - a book that's pure magic to me (no pun intended). It's now in a three-way tie for my all time favorite book (with Jennifer Lee Carrell's Interred with Their Bones and Anne Fortier's Juliet, in case you were wondering). The very fact that I wanted to read it again right away and was actually sad to have to return it to the library says a lot. (I've since purchased a copy from desertcart of both the hard back and audio book.) The story centers on Diana Bishop, a 30-something historian who specializes in Medieval alchemy. When researching at Oxford, she accidentally calls up a long-lost, spellbound manuscript, Ashmole 782. She senses something strange about it and opens it, but doesn't read it. Although she's descendant from a long line of witches, she wasn't trained to use magic and so doesn't realize the impact of her ability to break the spell. She returns the manuscript just like any other book. That's when a host of vampires, demons and other witches start following her every move, all desperate to unlock the mystery of Ashmole 782, even if it costs Diana her life. Along the way she discovers she does indeed have magical powers (something else those otherworldly creatures are interested in) and forges an unlikely bond with vampire Matthew Claremont, an alliance that will both threaten and change her life in ways she could never imagine. I've seen this book described as "Twilight for the academic set." That's like comparing foie gras with a hot dog. Yes, they both have controlling vampires. That's where the similarities begin and end, in my opinion. Twilight was a teenage love story with nothing more at stake (seriously, no pun intended) than Bella's life and heartbreak. This book is about the interaction of witches, humans, vampires and demons (which could be seen as an analogy for racial tolerance), evolution and the future of all of their kinds. It's about magic and mystery and their place in a scientifically dominated world. I'd say the stakes are a little higher here. I had no idea there were vampires in this book when I picked it up. It contains three of my very favorite things: ornate libraries, an old, mysterious book, and magic (the Wiccan kind, not the Harry Potter kind), so I was hooked immediately. Even if that doesn't do it for you, the mystery surrounding the manuscript of Ashmole 782 will. I'm a huge fan of character-driven fiction and a Discovery of Witches excels in character development. You learn so much about them from their day-to-day lives and interactions with each other. Some are likeable, others are not, and there are a few you don't know if you can trust. Diana is by far my favorite, but then again, I relate to her on a number of levels, including her love of history, old books and unfortunate propensity toward panic attacks. For some odd reason, I was captivated by Diana's hobby of rowing (sculling to be precise) and plan to take that up myself as a result of having read this book. Matthew, despite being the main love interest, doesn't make me fall in love with him. I like him as a character, but I think it's my inability to trust him that keeps me at a distance. My favorite character is Marthe. Somehow, her mix of humor and down-to-earth wisdom is the perfect foil to Diana, Matthew and Ysabeau, all of whom can be too serious. The world, writing and plot of this book are also handled with expertise. I've never been to any of the locations, nor had I ever seen sculling before, but thanks to Harkness' evocative descriptions, I could see and hear it all. And all of the meals and wine that were described kept me hungry and in need of a drink (in a good way)! I especially love the Bishop House, which really is a character unto itself. It gave the book some much-needed levity. A Discovery of Witches seems to be a love it or hate it book, judging from the number of one- and five-star reviews on Goodreads. It's a very layered story, and if you only take the time to focus on one point, you're going to miss a lot. This is a book that should be savored. But that doesn't mean it's not without its flaws. There were some plot points I didn't believe and others that I felt deserved more explanation, but I'm trusting Harkness has her reasons for handling things the way she did. That's one of the problems with not being able to read a series all the way through. A lot of times the author does things a certain way that will make perfect sense once you can see the story as a whole as she does. But as readers, we don't have that option along the way (at least not until all the books come out). (This is the short version of my review. If you want to read my long, spoilery, very passionate review, you can find it on Goodreads under Nicole Evelina - but I would suggest reading the book first because I touch on almost all the major plot points.) PS - If you get the chance to listen to the audio book, Jennifer Ikeda does an incredible job as the narrator. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #9,708 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #8 in Vampire Thrillers #12 in Witch & Wizard Thrillers #26 in Horror Occult & Supernatural | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 55,066 Reviews | ## Images ![A Discovery of Witches - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81sm6Ap5J6L.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Language, Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great Read *by M***Y on August 11, 2026* Great story totally worth the read recommend the entire trilogy I love the romance between both the characters. Character development is awesome. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ One of the best books out there *by N***. on September 20, 2012* It's rare to find a book that you think about even when you're not reading it and whose world you're more involved in than your own. But that's how it was for me with Deborah Harkness' A Discovery of Witches - a book that's pure magic to me (no pun intended). It's now in a three-way tie for my all time favorite book (with Jennifer Lee Carrell's Interred with Their Bones and Anne Fortier's Juliet, in case you were wondering). The very fact that I wanted to read it again right away and was actually sad to have to return it to the library says a lot. (I've since purchased a copy from Amazon of both the hard back and audio book.) The story centers on Diana Bishop, a 30-something historian who specializes in Medieval alchemy. When researching at Oxford, she accidentally calls up a long-lost, spellbound manuscript, Ashmole 782. She senses something strange about it and opens it, but doesn't read it. Although she's descendant from a long line of witches, she wasn't trained to use magic and so doesn't realize the impact of her ability to break the spell. She returns the manuscript just like any other book. That's when a host of vampires, demons and other witches start following her every move, all desperate to unlock the mystery of Ashmole 782, even if it costs Diana her life. Along the way she discovers she does indeed have magical powers (something else those otherworldly creatures are interested in) and forges an unlikely bond with vampire Matthew Claremont, an alliance that will both threaten and change her life in ways she could never imagine. I've seen this book described as "Twilight for the academic set." That's like comparing foie gras with a hot dog. Yes, they both have controlling vampires. That's where the similarities begin and end, in my opinion. Twilight was a teenage love story with nothing more at stake (seriously, no pun intended) than Bella's life and heartbreak. This book is about the interaction of witches, humans, vampires and demons (which could be seen as an analogy for racial tolerance), evolution and the future of all of their kinds. It's about magic and mystery and their place in a scientifically dominated world. I'd say the stakes are a little higher here. I had no idea there were vampires in this book when I picked it up. It contains three of my very favorite things: ornate libraries, an old, mysterious book, and magic (the Wiccan kind, not the Harry Potter kind), so I was hooked immediately. Even if that doesn't do it for you, the mystery surrounding the manuscript of Ashmole 782 will. I'm a huge fan of character-driven fiction and a Discovery of Witches excels in character development. You learn so much about them from their day-to-day lives and interactions with each other. Some are likeable, others are not, and there are a few you don't know if you can trust. Diana is by far my favorite, but then again, I relate to her on a number of levels, including her love of history, old books and unfortunate propensity toward panic attacks. For some odd reason, I was captivated by Diana's hobby of rowing (sculling to be precise) and plan to take that up myself as a result of having read this book. Matthew, despite being the main love interest, doesn't make me fall in love with him. I like him as a character, but I think it's my inability to trust him that keeps me at a distance. My favorite character is Marthe. Somehow, her mix of humor and down-to-earth wisdom is the perfect foil to Diana, Matthew and Ysabeau, all of whom can be too serious. The world, writing and plot of this book are also handled with expertise. I've never been to any of the locations, nor had I ever seen sculling before, but thanks to Harkness' evocative descriptions, I could see and hear it all. And all of the meals and wine that were described kept me hungry and in need of a drink (in a good way)! I especially love the Bishop House, which really is a character unto itself. It gave the book some much-needed levity. A Discovery of Witches seems to be a love it or hate it book, judging from the number of one- and five-star reviews on Goodreads. It's a very layered story, and if you only take the time to focus on one point, you're going to miss a lot. This is a book that should be savored. But that doesn't mean it's not without its flaws. There were some plot points I didn't believe and others that I felt deserved more explanation, but I'm trusting Harkness has her reasons for handling things the way she did. That's one of the problems with not being able to read a series all the way through. A lot of times the author does things a certain way that will make perfect sense once you can see the story as a whole as she does. But as readers, we don't have that option along the way (at least not until all the books come out). (This is the short version of my review. If you want to read my long, spoilery, very passionate review, you can find it on Goodreads under Nicole Evelina - but I would suggest reading the book first because I touch on almost all the major plot points.) PS - If you get the chance to listen to the audio book, Jennifer Ikeda does an incredible job as the narrator. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A new and fun twist on vampire fiction that is hidden behind a curtain of boring elaborations *by D***M on February 13, 2019* Introduction Review of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness A Discovery of Witches is a witchy coming-of-age story about an American historian by the name of Diana Bishop. The story opens with Diana conducting research into the history of alchemy at the Oxford Library. She requests several manuscripts one of which is Ashmole 782. She quickly determines that this book is locked by a spell which she breaks without understanding how. It has several pages missing, and she is surprised when the “words shimmered and moved across its surface—hundreds of words—invisible unless the angle of light and the viewer’s perspective were just right”. She realizes that the book is a palimpsest and contains secret messages protected by magic spells. Even though she is a descendent of witches, she strays from using or understanding magic and decides to return the book rather than investigate it further. “Here, with my hard-earned doctorate, tenure, and promotions in hand and my career beginning to blossom, I’d renounced my family’s heritage and created a life that depended on reason and scholarly abilities, not inexplicable hunches and spells”. Matthew Clairmont is a vampire who oversees a DNA research program and has discovered potential problems with the DNA of future generations of creatures. He has discovered that creature powers in the 21st century have becoming weaker than that of their descendants. He is sure that the answer to this problem is hidden within Ashmole 782. Diana does not realize that other creatures (vampires and daemons, as well as other witches) have been searching for this manuscript for centuries. Matthew Clairmont is able to recognize Diana’s magical power and knows that she has accessed the book. Eventually he becomes her protector and they fall in love. Relationships between creatures have been forbidden for centuries. It does not take Diana and Matthew long to realize that they are in danger. Other witches are after Diana due to her magical abilities and her power to access the book. All creatures are after them due to prejudice towards their illicit love affair. Review Diana Bishop is portrayed as a competent scholar who chooses to abandon magic and live as a human. There is enough character development to provide a likeable protagonist. This is done with a first person POV portraying Diana’s limited perspective. I didn’t feel that Matthew’s character was as well-developed a Diana’s. There were glimpses into his character from Matthew’s perspective by a change of POV to third-person in a few chapters. However, I am left feeling somewhat detached towards Matthew. I would have loved to have seen the POV shift between Matthew and Diana told from each character’s first-person perspective. I felt that there were too many characters needlessly introduced that added little to the story. As the story progressed, it was sometimes difficult to remember who all of the characters were. My biggest complaint is the nonstop descriptions used within the book. I love a descriptive book that makes me able to visualize the surroundings. Here there is too much here, and I frequently found myself skipping ahead and then having to go back because I had missed something of importance. In other words, I think this book could be about three-fourths of its current size and I would not miss anything of importance. I have heard other readers describe this book as just another “Twilight”. I disagree with this. If you are not a fan of this genre then you should not write reviews. The only similarities I see between this book and “Twilight” is that both novels contain a main character who is a vampire and there is a romance between the two protagonists in both novels. Bella Swan is not a witch, and Diana Bishop is not a high school student. The plots, twists, characterizations, and settings are in no way similar between these two novels. The main similarity would be that Twilight was made into five movies and The Discovery of Witches was made into a series consisting of three seasons. The mystery that surrounds Ashmole 782 is compelling and plays a significant part in the plot of this book. Conclusion. If you like fiction that revolves around witches, magic, and vampires, you will most likely enjoy this book. If you do not like this genre, then skip it as you won’t like it. There is a lot of fun here and it is an enjoyable read. Deborah Harkness is able to use her education and produces a fun book that strips away the common themes associated with vampires. I enjoyed it immensely and will read the next book in the series. ## Frequently Bought Together - A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Series) - Shadow of Night (All Souls Trilogy, Bk 2) (All Souls Series) - The Book of Life: A Novel (All Souls Series) --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.in/products/1183731-a-discovery-of-witches](https://www.desertcart.in/products/1183731-a-discovery-of-witches) --- *Product available on Desertcart India* *Store origin: IN* *Last updated: 2026-09-12*