The Black Bird Oracle - (All Souls) by Deborah Harkness

Book Synopsis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Diana Bishop journeys to the darkest places within herself--and her family history--in the highly anticipated fifth novel of the beloved All Souls series, hailed as "your next favorite fantasy read" (Harper's Bazaar).

"The Black Bird Oracle deftly explores the nexus of memory, history, and parenthood--the magic, pain, and promises mothers pass onto their children."--Jodi Picoult

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.

On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family's dark past and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power--if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it.

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.

Review Quotes

"The Black Bird Oracle ushers in a thrilling new era for Diana, an Oxford scholar and powerful witch, as she navigates marriage to the vampire Matthew and motherhood, while reckoning with dark secrets from her family's storied past. There's no better time to get swept up in the romance, adventure, and magic of the All Souls world, beginning with A Discovery of Witches."--Bustle

"Excitement is high as the release date for The Black Bird Oracle approaches. . . . It's a chapter of Diana's story that longtime fans won't want to miss."--Screenrant, 15 Most Anticipated Fantasy Books Coming Out the Rest of 2024

"[In The Black Bird Oracle, Harkness] retains a historian's meticulousness, a researcher's intellectual fixation, and a child's sense of wonder."--Elle

"The long-awaited fifth installment in Deborah Harkness's All Souls series will see witch Diana Bishop explore the darkest places of her psyche--and her family's history."--Paste, The Most Anticipated Fantasy Books of Summer 2024

"Outstandingly brilliant."--The Sun, starred review

"Diana Bishop journeys to the darkest places within herself--and her family history--in the highly anticipated fifth novel of the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling All Souls series."--Nerd Daily, Get Your Hands on These Anticipated July to December 2024 Book Releases

"A new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family's dark past and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power--if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it."--Reactor

"The Black Bird Oracle was well worth the wait: Not only does it reunite us with the powerful love story of Diana and Matthew, it deftly explores the nexus of memory, history, and parenthood--the magic, pain, and promises mothers pass onto their children. Harkness's lush prose makes a fantastical world real enough to touch; her characters are so real they feel like family."--#1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult

"Haunting in every way. This is a story thick with family secrets, human heartache, and the kind of deep magic only Harkness can conjure. You will be enchanted."--Leigh Bardugo, bestselling author of The Familiar

"Marked by Harkness's deft evocations and appreciation of learning, this is a book to treasure. The portentous ending, rife with new story threads and threats, will leave readers hoping that she doesn't wait another six years to continue the series."--Library Journal, starred review

About the Author

Deborah Harkness is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night, The Book of Life, Time's Convert, and The World of All Souls. A history professor at the University of Southern California, Harkness has received Fulbright, Guggenheim, and National Humanities Center fellowships. She lives in Los Angeles.