Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Release Day - Spotlight/U.S. Giveaway: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

ISBN #: 978-0143123620
Page Count: 592
Copyright: May 28, 2013
Publisher: Penguin Books; Reprint Edition


Book Summary:
(Taken from Amazon)

Harkness' much-anticipated sequel, Shadow of Night, picks up from A Discovery of Witches' cliffhanger ending. Diana and Matthew time-travel to Elizabethan London and are plunged into a world of spies, magic, and a coterie of Matthew's old friends, the School of Night. As the search for Ashmole 782 deepens and Diana searches for a witch to tutor her in magic, the net of Matthew's past tightens around them, and they embark on a very different - and vastly more dangerous - journey.


A (Brief) Conversation with Deborah Harkness:
(The Q&A was provided by Penguin and edited by us for the purposes of this post)

Q: Last summer, Warner Brothers acquired screen rights to the trilogy, and David Auburn, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer of Proof, has been tapped to pen the screenplay. Are you looking forward to your novels being portrayed on the big screen? What are your favorite casting ideas that you've heard from friends and readers?

A: I was thrilled when Warner Brothers wanted to translate the All Souls trilogy from book to screen. At first I was reluctant about the whole idea of a movie, and it actually took me nearly two years to agree to let someone try. The team at Warner Brothers impressed me with their seriousness about the project and their commitment to the characters and story I was trying to tell. Their decision to go with David Auburn confirmed that my faith in them was not misplaced. As for the casting, I deliberately don't say anything about that! I would hate for any actor or actress to be cast in one of these roles and feel that they didn't have my total support. I will say, however, that many of my readers' ideas involve actors who have already played a vampire and I would be very surprised if one of them were asked to be Matthew!

Q: In Shadow of Night, we learn more about the alchemical bonds between Diana and Matthew. In your day job, you are a professor of history and science at the University of Southern California and have focused on alchemy in your research. What aspects of this intersection between science and magic do you hope readers will pick up on while reading Shadow of Night?

A: Whereas A Discovery of Witches focused on the literature and symbolism of alchemy, in Shadow of Night I'm able to explore some of the hands-on aspects of this ancient tradition. There is still plenty of symbolism for Diana to think about, but in this volume we go from abstractions and ideals to real transformation and change - which was always my intention with the series. Just as we get to know more about how Elizabethan men and women undertook alchemical experiments, we also get to see Matthew and Diana's relationship undergo the metamorphosis from new love to something more.

Q: Shadow of Night spans the globe, with London, France, and Prague as some of the locales. Did you travel to these destinations for your research?

A: I did. My historical research has been based in London for some time now, so I've spent long stretches of time living in the City of London - the oldest part of the metropolis - but I had never been to the Auvergne or Prague. I visited both places while writing the book, and in both cases it was a bit like traveling in time to walk village lanes, old pilgrim roads, and twisting city streets while imagining Diana and Matthew at my side.


About the Author:


My career in fiction began in September 2008 when I began to wonder "if there really are vampires, what do they do for a living?" A Discovery of Witches is the unexpected answer to that question. The book debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, and was also a bestseller in the UK, France, and Germany. Thirty-eight foreign editions and translations will be published. The story of Diana and Matthew continues in the #1 New York Times Bestseller Shadow of Night. I am currently working on the third book in the All Souls Trilogy.

** To view more about Deborah and her website, click here **


Giveaway:

This giveaway is for U.S. residents only. If you are selected as a winner and do not have a U.S. mailing address you will be disqualified and another winner will be chosen in your place. This giveaway will run for one week. The selected winners will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen in their place. And, yes, we said "winners." There will be up to three winners chosen for this giveaway, so spread the word and good luck!!!

1 comment:

  1. Definitely excited to see A discovery of witches to finally come to life, I cant wait to see what the motion picture ha to offer.

    ReplyDelete

If you are using wordpress.com, you can simply drop the html below in a widget in the footer or at the bottom of the sidebar.
Quantcast