Book Signing - Deborah Harkness

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a book signing for Shadow of Night, second book in the All Souls Trilogy (and July's book club pick) by Deborah Harkness. I love attending book signings to begin with, it's such a rush to have a beloved book inscribed by a favorite author but it's doubly thrilling when you have an author willing to interact with the readers, answer some questions and even give us a little insight into the characters, the writing process and even the little details. Deborah Harkness is one of those authors.

We were treated to two readings from the just released Shadow of Night and Ms. Harkness gave us the background of A Discovery of Witches, how she created this unique world of creatures (it all started with a question) and she discussed her background as an historian. Ms. Harkness if a professor of history and specializes in the time period Shadow is set which helped her with the details, but not as much as she expected.

When she opened up the floor to questions, she was gracious and answered all of the questions with sincerity. Her passion for what she does and what she has created glowed through with every question asked and answered. There were some interesting tidbits such as the character of Matthew Clairmont was created with the shadowy and elusive figure of Matthew Roydon, the infamous School of Night's least known member, in mind. The All Souls trilogy was originally meant to be only one book broken into three parts and certain characters were never intended but crept into the story and decided to stay.

I had a great night as a result and am now the proud owner of a signed copy of Shadow of Night. Look for a Summer Giveaway in August when I will be giving away the other signed copy of Shadow of Night  to one of my lovely readers!