Avid Reader Hosts: Author Deborah Harkness

Deborah Harkness spent more than a quarter of a century as a student and scholar of history, with degrees from Mount Holyoke College, Northwestern University, and the University of California at Davis. For her doctoral degree, she researched the history of magic and science in Europe, especially during the period from 1500 to 1700.
Currently, Deborah teaches European history and the history of science to undergraduates and graduate students at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Prior to that, she taught medical history at the Northwestern University Medical School, the history of science and medicine at the University of California at Davis, paleography at the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Oxford, and early modern European history at Colgate University.
She’s published articles on topics such as the influence of theatrical conventions on the occult sciences, scientific households, female medical practice in early modern London, medical curiosity, and the influence of accounting practices on scientific record keeping.
Deborah has received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Humanities Center as well as accolades for her historical work from the History of Science Society, the North American Conference on British Studies, and the Longman’s/History Today Prize Committee.

About the Book

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.

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.

Event Tickets

There are two different types of tickets available for this event.

$35 One Book Bundle – This bundle includes admission to the event on July 30, 2024 as well as a signed hardcover of The Black Bird Oracle and priority access to the post-event photo line.  Signed books will not be personalized. Click the image below to purchase.

$65 Two Book Bundle – This bundle includes admission to the event on July 30, 2024 as well as a signed hardcover of the Black Bird Oracle, a signed hardcover of A Discovery of Witches and priority access to the post-event photo line.  Signed books will not be personalized. Click the image below to purchase.

Seats are not assigned for this event.
Doors will open at 6:15pm.

The event will be followed by a photo opportunity.

There will be no signing or personalizing of books at the event.