The Book of Life is the third book in Deborah Harkness's trilogy. Not a witch book reader myself I thoroughly loved the first two books in the series. And I wrote a review of the second, Shadow of Night, on this blog (I didn't read them in order; and might still do a review on the second, which I've now finished and loved).
Unfortunately for all of us, the next book doesn't come out until July 15. But it is coming out! The publisher, Penguin, kindly sent the below excerpt to whet our appetite. Can't wait!
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.
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