So you just binged A Discovery Of Witches season one—the spectacular book-to-TV adaptation featuring Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode and now you’re wondering what to do with your life now that season 2 is coming to a close. You’re captivated by the world, the characters, the romance and are desperate for something to fill the void the show will leave behind.
I’ve got you covered. Like you, I binge-watched season one and felt a massive need to continue that bewitching and fantastic feeling. I wanted in depth world-building, intriguing characters, and high stakes romance with a tinge of history and danger.
In my search, I’ve compiled a few books that’ll hopefully carry us through the long wait for season 3. In the meantime, we’ll just have to read our way through it!
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
If you haven’t read Deborah Harkness’ All Souls trilogy, start with the first book. Even though the TV show is pretty faithful to the book, it’s not quite the same. The books focus on Diana’s perspective of events. We get to read as her and Matthew grow and spend time falling in love with their world. And the narration of the audiobooks are fantastic—definitely worth listening to while you enjoy the show.
Witches Steeped In Gold by Ciannon Smart
If the Congregation of witches, vampires and daemons and the infighting interested you and if the strength of Diana and her fellow witches was what you loved most, I recommend Ciannon Smart’s debut. It’s a story of two enemy witches and their unlikely alliance. Set against the backdrop of a lush Jamaican inspired fantasy, this novel is definitely a must read for any ADOW fan.
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Like the powerful female witches in the TV show, Diana and her aunts Em and Sarah to name a few, the women at the heart of Alix E. Harrow’s novel are a force to reckon with. The Eastwood sisters join the suffragette movement in the late 1800s and soon realize that the women’s fight to vote may be entwined with the forgotten fight for witches’ rights to exist.
Song Of Blood And Stone by L. Penelope
I love my fantasy with a side of romance, and Song of Blood and Stone is a perfect fit. Like Diana and Matthew, the couple in this novel, Jasminda and Jake, have a bit of a star-crossed romance. Their relationship balances well with the epic world-building and action throughout the book.
The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk
The Midnight Bargain’s premise is timely: Beatrice, a young woman, must choose between her future as a wife and mother or her dreams of becoming a powerful magus. Like Beatrice, Diana makes choices regarding her life, her family and magic, just as her mother did before her. And as it was in both the ADOW novels and TV series, it is empowering to see what happens when a woman doesn’t like the choices ahead of her and forges her own path.
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The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis
If you were interested in Diana’s study of alchemy and the history of science, then you should add Nicole Jarvis’ fascinating debut about alchemy in gaslit-era Prague to your TBR list immediately. Its blend of magic and science is a great companion to what we’ve seen in ADOW so far.
The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
A Discovery of Witches draws on history, retelling, and rewriting what we know to expand the world of witches, daemons, and vampires. The Witch’s Heart does something similar, retelling Norse mythology in a beautiful and unique way.
The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffen
Though The Nature of Witches won’t be out until June, this book about witches with unparalleled power—like Diana’s—works well for any viewer or reader eager for more of the All Souls trilogy.
A Tip for The Hangman by Allison Epstein
Viewers who’ve started season two of A Discovery of Witches know that one of the best characters we’ve been introduced to so far is Matthew’s friend, Kit Marlowe. Christopher Marlowe is an Elizabethan poet and the protagonist of A Tip For The Hangman. Much like Shadow of Night, the sequel to A Discovery of Witches and the basis for season two, this book is a historical thriller filled with spies, royal secrets, and deadly intrigue.
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The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox
At its heart, this book is about how we tell stories but also combines the supernatural and sisterhood in a way that fans of the series will love. Its a genre-bending tome, spanning various timelines, settings and taking inspiration from mythologies and cultures across the globe, much like A Discovery of Witches.
A Discovery of Witches is streaming on Sundance Now.
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