SHADOW OF NIGHT by Deborah Harkness - 600 pages

I was very fortunate to get an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of SHADOW OF NIGHT which is not due to be published until July 2012.  It is the sequel to A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES, the author's 2011 debut novel and the second title in the All Souls Trilogy.

SHADOW OF NIGHT continues the story of Diana Bishop, expert in medieval, alchemical manuscripts & nascent witch and her new husband, Matthew Clairmont, an Oxford tenured professor of genetics & a  centuries-old vampire.  The newlyweds have used Diana's time-walking ability, traveling back to London in 1590 to escape the witches and vampires from the present who are opposed to their union.  They intend to find a witch to help Diana learn how to use her uncontrolled powers and to also track down Ashmole 782, the alchemical text which has brought all manner of trouble their way.

But Matthew in 1590 is not the same person Diana fell in love with.  He has secrets that he's never revealed to her and a life she knows nothing about, including being very close friends with Sir Walter Raleigh, Kit Marlow, and Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland.  Not only does Diana need to learn how to 'live' in Elizabeth I England but she also has to figure out, all over again, just who her husband is and how to deal with him and his friends.

My three Appeal terms:  Descriptive, Intriguing, Emotional