A Discovery of Witches

Walking home from a row on a foggy morning, Diana encounters Matthew, who worries about her being alone on the river. He offers her a ride home in his pristine, vintage black Jaguar, and Diana accepts, appreciating his shy smile. They stop for breakfast on the way. Diana accuses Matthew of being old-fashioned when he holds doors open for her. Diana’s insistence on independence makes Matthew touchy. Matthew is uncomfortable around all the people in the restaurant— Diana realizes he is trying to protect her. She asserts that she can take care of herself. Matthew is skeptical.

Diana asks why Matthew became a scientist. He replies, “I suppose I need to know why I’m here” (70). Diana is surprised. She believed that scientists cared more about “how” rather than “why.” Diana wonders how Matthew’s many research disciplines are connected. Matthew gets angry. Diana worries about Matthew’s quick mood shifts and his dangerous nature. Explaining why she studies history, Diana describes the pleasure of uncovering and revealing secrets of the past. She wants to discover how humans managed to ignore and eliminate magic from their lives. Matthew gets Diana to admit that alchemy is “science with magic. Or magic with science” (73). Matthew invites Diana to his yoga class, and she accepts. 

Mathew picks Diana up the next evening for yoga, and her irritable mood improves when they arrive at a magnificent, gated Tudor manor house. Diana is amazed that the yoga class is a diverse mix of creatures, with none of the usual friction between them. A witch, Amira, leads the yoga class. Diana admires Matthew’s ancient beauty and yoga prowess. At the conclusion of the class, Diana and Matthew stare into each other’s eyes and she is rewarded with his “heart-stopping smile” (82).

Matthew takes Diana to the property’s equally beautiful and well-appointed gatehouse for tea. Diana realizes that the gracious home and property belong to Matthew—and have since 1536. She thinks that the home and land are like Matthew—quiet and straightforward. A picture of Matthew’s sister Louisa, a not-very-nice vampire killed in Barbados, hangs above the fireplace. Diana asserts that magic doesn’t define who she is. Matthew disagrees, saying Diana was born a witch: It is in her blood, and she can’t deny it. She is living a lie by trying to be human. Diana is scared, and doesn’t want to believe Matthew about her magic, otherwise her “whole life had been a fruitless struggle against an imaginary enemy” (87). The evening ends in tense silence, and Matthew drives Diana home.

The narrative perspective switches again to the third person, and we follow Matthew, who visits his old friend Hamish Osborne in the wilds of Scotland. Hamish is a brown-eyed, hook-nosed daemon. He and Matthew met in Oxford twenty years ago and hit it off immediately despite being different species, thanks to a similar sense of humor and keen intelligence. Hamish is an unusual daemon: Unlike most daemons who gravitate towards the arts, Hamish is a financial wizard and math maven. Born to human parents, Hamish became a daemon at age 12. He is gay, and has a human lover named Sweet William.

Matthew is gruff with his friend. Hamish realizes Matthew needs to hunt, and that he can be dangerous when he hasn’t fed. Over drinks, dinner, and billiards, Matthew tells Hamish about Ashmole 782, which he believes is the source of the philosopher’s stone. Matthew describes Diana’s incredible power and her denial of her heritage. Hamish realizes that Matthew is falling in love with Diana: he is displaying mating behavior and hunting Diana. Matthew is relieved to admit he wants Diana’s love but thinks he can never have her because he has accidentally killed two women he also loved—one when he was young, another just a hundred years ago. Matthew is full of self-loathing. Hamish tells Matthew he is not a monster but must stop keeping secrets from him and from Diana. The two play a game of chess, which Matthew loses because he protects his queen’s freedom and exposes his king to checkmate.

Diana phones Sarah and Em. Sarah is angry that Diana is involved with Matthew and “mixing with other creatures” (111). Diana says that Matthew is protecting her and tells them about Ashmole 782. Em is aghast that Matthew interfered in witches’ business. Because the book’s spell reset when Diana returned it, someone very powerful must have created it. They urge Diana to leave Oxford, but she refuses. Diana begins a mental exercise to visualize and organize her thoughts, but suddenly wonders if she is doing magic. The next day, Miriam guards Diana in the library instead of Matthew, furious that Diana can’t protect herself despite being a witch. Diana’s fingers spark with anger.

Gillian confronts Diana about her lack of loyalty to the witches. She blames Diana’s ancestor for starting the Salem witch hunt by calling attention to herself. Gillian threatens Diana and says witches killed Diana’s parents because they were keeping secrets from the coven. Diana visits the college warden and encounters the scholarly male wizard Peter Knox who calls Diana an “ignorant” and untrained witch” (126), foolishly hanging around a vampire. Knox declares that Ashmole 782 is the source of all the witches’ power and belongs to the witches: The manuscript contains the earliest spells, the secret of immortality, an explanation of how witches created daemons, and the way to permanently kill vampires. Knox taunts Diana to ask Matthew about the year 1859—when the spell was placed on Ashmole 782. Shaken that two witches have threatened her, Diana leaves Matthew a message asking to talk with him.