Met Deborah Harkness

I read the first of Deborah Harkness' All Souls Trilogy back in 2011. I loved A Discovery Of Witches, and was really excited for the next two parts of the trilogy. I finished the final book, The Book Of Life, this week, and went pretty much straight to Deborah's talk and book signing in Norwich.

It was a gorgeous evening:

There were signs on the bookshop:

I had a very tasty dinner at Frank's Bar:

With a lovely view:

And then when I got to Waterstone's there were Book of Life-themed cupcakes. Red velvet, of course. Very tasty!

And then the author herself. She was really interesting and engaging (she's a college professor, so that's kind of her job!), and she was really nice. She took questions, and I asked her which of the "creatures" from her books she would be. She replied that she was quite happy as a human, as she didn't want the responsibility of being a witch, nor would she like the endless goodbyes of the vampires. She did allow that a little daemon blood to spur the creativity along wouldn't be a bad thing. I also thanked her for creating my most favourite fictional house ever. 

Here's the line for book signings:

And here we are. She asked me which character was my favourite, at which point I drew a complete blank and produced a random minor character. As you do. Upon proper reflection, my favourite character remains the Bishop House. Best house ever.

She inscribed all three of my books. Deborah Harkness, you have NO IDEA how spooked I was when I opened the book to read this inscription. Endings, beginnings, change, indeed.