The cover of the last book in Deborah Harkness's, All Souls Trilogy, has been revealed. THE BOOK OF LIFE will be released by Viking on July 15th 2014.
I have read the first two books in this trilogy and have eagerly awaited Ms. Harkness's concluding novel,
The Book of Life. The first two books
A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES and
SHADOW OF NIGHT had me on the edge of my seat more than not. Sure to generate fright, anxious and edgy drama, the trilogy somehow is movie-like, imagery forms in the mind induced by this writer's exceptional story in print.
Harkness has conceived erotically enticing and memorable characters who will grip readers in their otherworldly schemes of good vs evil. The allure is irresistible and readers will be drawn forward without awareness of time. I know I was a captive audience for the first two books and expect THE BOOK OF LIFE to be the same.
Below is an excerpt, tagged with the author credit lines. I hope you will be as excited as I am for this highly anticipated conclusion. If you haven't read the first two books, you have time to catch up on this
entertaining thriller from the other side.
BOOK OF LIFE- EXCERPT by Deborah Harkness*
Ghosts didn’t have much substance; they were composed only of
memories and heart. Atop one of Sept-Tours’ round towers, Emily Mather pressed
a diaphanous hand against the spot in the center of her chest that even now was
heavy with dread.
It had been her witch’s
sixth sense that someone was in mortal peril that had steered Emily down the
path leading to this moment. But the death she had foreseen was her own.
Does it ever get easier? Her voice, like the rest of her, was
almost imperceptible. The watching? The
waiting? The knowing?
Not that I’ve noticed, Philippe de Clermont replied
shortly. He was perched nearby, studying his own transparent fingers.
Emily’s face fell, and Philippe
silently cursed himself. Since she’d died, the witch had been his constant
companion, cutting his loneliness in two.
Perhaps
it will be easier when they don’t need us anymore, Philippe said more gently. He might
be the more experienced ghost, but it was Emily who understood the metaphysics
of their situation. What the witch had told him went against everything
Philippe believed about the Afterworld.
Diana’s warm alto floated up
to the battlements. Diana and Matthew,
Emily and Philippe said in unison, peering down on the cobbled courtyard that
surrounded the château.
There, Philippe said, pointing at the drive. Even dead, his vampire
sight was sharper than any human’s. He was also still more handsome than any
man had a right to be, with his broad shoulders and devilish grin. He turned
the latter on Emily, who couldn’t help grinning back. They are a fine couple, are they not? Look how much my son has changed.
Vampires weren’t supposed to
be altered by the passing of time, and so Emily expected to see the same black
hair, so dark it glinted blue; the same celadon eyes, cool and remote as a
winter sea; the same pale skin and wide mouth. There were a few subtle
differences though, as Philippe suggested. Matthew’s hair was shorter, and he
had a beard that made him look even more dangerous, like a pirate. She gasped.
Is Matthew—bigger? . . . Diana
looks different, too. More like her mother, with that long coppery hair.
Diana stumbled on a cobblestone and
Matthew’s hand shot out to steady her.
It’s not just Diana’s hair that has changed. Philippe’s face had a
look of wonder. Diana is with
child—Matthew’s child.
Emily examined her niece
more carefully, using the supernatural grasp of truth that death afforded.
What
will happen now, Philippe?
Emily asked, her heart growing heavier.
Endings. Beginnings, Philippe said with deliberate vagueness. Change.
Diana has always resisted change, Emily said.
That is because she is afraid of what she must become, replied
Philippe.
*From The Book of Life by
Deborah Harkness. Reprinted by arrangement with Viking, a member of Penguin Group
(USA) LLC, a Penguin Random House company. Copyright © Deborah Harkness, 2014.
Children of the Jacaranda Tree by Sahar Delijani
