#booksaremagic

⬆️ Fan Photo Collage using extract from A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and stills from the TV Show

My favourite book in the whole world. Ever.

I was out and about yesterday and found a well-loved copy of ‘A Discovery of Witches’ in the local train station book swap.

⬆️ A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (p175)

Part of me wanted to leave it for someone else to discover the absolute magic (literal and figurative) of it; part of me was delighted with the connective sign from the universe and part of me grabbed it with both hands as I’ve lent my copy out and am really missing it. I delved into it straight away and got wonderfully lost for the entire train journey.

To celebrate, I edited together a little extract (p175), just for fun, which tries to capture the delectable sensory overload to be found in the writing and the show itself. Can’t really put into words how much I love it.

To the one who waits in silence on a dusty shelf or nightstand edge, weathered or pristine, dog-eared or crisp, you are both anchor and escape.

You are weight in the hand and wings in the mind. A doorway made of ink. A friend who speaks only when I’m ready to listen. A keeper of secrets and storms.

In your pages I’ve traveled galaxies, fought beside rebels, dined with kings, stood in the rain with strangers who knew my heart better than I ever dared to know it myself.

You’ve taught me how to mourn and how to rise, how to ask the question no one else will, how to see the world not just as it is, but as it could be.

You never judged the way we read you— under blankets with a flashlight, on the bus, half-asleep, out loud to someone we love, or in silence, when the world felt too loud.

And still you wait. Patient. Infinite. Ready to be read again, and changed... because we have changed.

So on this day, I raise my metaphorical glass (or literal cup of tea) to every author who dared to write, to every reader who dared to feel, and to you, book! Ordinary, extraordinary book! For being there when I needed you most. And even when I didn’t know I did.

Happy World Book Day 🌍📖 May our shelves never be too full, and our hearts never too closed to open one more story :)