Below is the complete list of Deborah Harkness books in order. For each series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of All Souls Trilogy Books
Publication Order of All Souls Non-Fiction Books
Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books
About Deborah Harkness
Deborah Harkness is an American bestselling novelist and historian whose fiction blends supernatural fantasy, historical scholarship, romance, and mystery. Best known for A Discovery of Witches and the internationally successful All Souls series, she has established a distinctive literary identity through her detailed treatment of witchcraft, alchemy, Renaissance history, and the relationship between science and magic. Her academic background gives her supernatural fiction an unusual depth, grounding extraordinary characters and events in carefully researched historical settings.
Before becoming a novelist, Harkness spent more than twenty-five years studying and teaching history. She earned degrees from Mount Holyoke College, Northwestern University, and the University of California, Davis, where her doctoral research concentrated on the relationship between magic and science in early modern Europe, particularly during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Her scholarly interests brought her into contact with some of the world’s most important historical collections, including Oxford’s Bodleian Library, the British Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and the Huntington Library. Her experiences examining rare manuscripts and historical documents would later become central to her fiction.
Harkness established her academic reputation through works examining Renaissance intellectual culture. John Dee’s Conversations with Angels (1999) explores the relationship between the Elizabethan scholar John Dee, his spiritual investigations, and his understanding of the natural world. The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution (2007) examines how scientific knowledge developed through the activities of ordinary people, craftspeople, and intellectual communities in Renaissance London.
These scholarly interests provided the foundation for an unexpected transition into fiction. In 2008, Harkness began wondering how witches and vampires might live and work if they actually existed. Rather than imagining them solely as supernatural outsiders, she considered how they might participate in ordinary professions, pursue intellectual interests, and interact with human society.
That question developed into A Discovery of Witches (2011), her debut novel and the opening instalment of the All Souls series. The story introduces Diana Bishop, a historian and reluctant witch who discovers an enchanted manuscript while conducting research at Oxford. Her investigation brings her into contact with Matthew Clairmont, a centuries-old vampire and geneticist whose knowledge of supernatural history becomes essential to understanding the manuscript’s significance.
The novel became an international bestseller, establishing Harkness as a major figure in contemporary fantasy fiction. Its success led to Shadow of Night (2012), which takes Diana and Matthew into Elizabethan England, and The Book of Life (2014), which completes the central trilogy.
Unlike many supernatural romances, Harkness’s novels devote considerable attention to historical research, scientific inquiry, and the cultural traditions surrounding magic. Her witches, vampires, and daemons belong to a complex society shaped by longstanding political arrangements, inherited abilities, and restrictions governing relationships between different supernatural groups.
Harkness subsequently expanded the fictional universe with Time’s Convert (2018), which explores the transformation of Marcus MacNeil into a vampire during the American Revolutionary period. The novel combines his historical experiences with developments involving familiar characters in the present.
In The Black Bird Oracle (2024), she returned to Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont, exploring family inheritance, powerful magical traditions, and previously concealed aspects of Diana’s ancestry. The novel opened another major chapter in the continuing All Souls narrative.
The series also inspired the television adaptation A Discovery of Witches, which premiered in 2018 and ran for three seasons. Starring Teresa Palmer and Matthew Goode, the production brought Harkness’s fictional world to an international television audience. She participated in the adaptation as an executive producer.
Alongside her novels, Harkness co-authored The World of All Souls (2018), an illustrated companion exploring the characters, history, scientific ideas, and mythology underlying the original trilogy.
Her academic achievements include Fulbright, Guggenheim, and National Humanities Center fellowships. She is Professor Emerita of History at the University of Southern California and resides in Massachusetts.
What distinguishes Harkness’s writing is the close relationship between her historical expertise and her imagination. Libraries, manuscripts, scientific discoveries, and forgotten intellectual traditions are not merely decorative details but essential elements of her fictional world. Through her combination of scholarship and supernatural storytelling, she explores enduring questions about identity, knowledge, family inheritance, and the ways history continues to influence the present.