Love 'A Discovery of Witches'? Add These 20 Books to Your TBR Pile

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As A Discovery of Witches streams on Netflix for the first time, Deborah Harkness's All Souls books, which served as a basis for the drama are becoming popular once again. As one fan posted on X (formerly Twitter), "A Discovery of Witches on Netflix has everything: swoony vampires, book geeks, inter-creature forbidden love, time travel, period drama costumes, political intrigue, secret scientific research, murder mysteries, Renaissance historical figures and crash course witch training."

As that X user jokingly pointed out, what's so great about Harkness's series is that there are so many different elements of her books: historical fantasy, mystery, time travel, witches, parallel words, vampires, and more. Therefore, if there's any one specific element that specifically interests readers (or viewers), there are plenty of other books just like it. Many of the below books, too, are specifically recommended by Harkness on her website.

So if you've already finished the A Discovery of Witches novels and are looking for your next read, try these 20 books:

The Black Bird Oracle: A Novel (All Souls Series Book 5)

First of all, if you haven't finished the new All Souls book that just came out, head to the bookstore. That is what you should read after watching A Discovery of Witches. The Black Bird Oracle picks up seven years after Matthew and Diana's story ends, and follows her journey to understand her father's side of the family as the couple tries to protect their twins from the Congregation.

Read more: The A Discovery of Witches Story Continues in New Book

Practical Magic

Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic books are classics for a reason—not only did the first book inspire arguably the best autumal film of all time (starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman), the series is a moving look at generations of witches over the decades. If you want more Em and Sarah from A Discovery of Witches, Gillian and Sally are absolutely for you.

Read more: 25 Best Classic Fall Books for a Cozy Autumn Read

Her Majesty's Royal Coven: A Novel (The HMRC Trilogy)

Juno Dawson's Her Majesty's Royal Coven was initially billed as "A Discovery of Witches meets The Craft,"so if you love the All Souls trilogy, this is definitely up your alley. The first book follows four witches, Helena, Leonie, Niamh and Elle, former childhood best friends who joined the government's official coven when they came of age. Only one (Helena) is still involved, while the other three have taken completely different life journeys. When a young warlock is captured, the four friends must reunite to figure out the path forward. It's a fresh and feminist take on the witch genre.

Read more: The Best Books About Witches for a Spooky Autumn Read

A Darker Shade of Magic: A Novel (Shades of Magic, 1)

In V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic trilogy, there are four parallel Londons—Red, Grey, White, and Black—that have various access to magic. Kell is an Antari, a magician who can travel between worlds. He was raised in Red London, but after a smuggling exchange goes awry, he escapes to Grey London. No spoilers here, but A Darker Shade of Magic (and the entire trilogy) is historical fantasy at its best.

Plus: A Darker Shade of Magic is a book that A Discovery of Witches Harkness herself recommends if you like books about witches and other magical beings.

The Familiar: A Novel

Much of the witches lore in A Discovery of Witches is rooted in the history of America (particularly the witchcraft trials in Salem), and The Familiar has a similar relationship to history—just that of Jewish conversos during Spain's Golden Age. The story follows Luzia, a maid who uses bits of magic to make her days easier, who soon catches the attention of her mistress, Valentina, who is eager to use Luzia's talents to advance her own status. Guillén Santángel, an immortal familiar, begins training Luzia—and what results is a compelling historical fantasy slash thriller slash romance.

Read more: The Best Books of 2024... So Far

The Serpent & the Wings of Night (Crowns of Nyaxia, 1)

If your favorite part of A Discovery of Witches is the romance between Diana and Matthew, this romantasy hit should definitely be on your TBR list. The Serpent & The Wings of Night follows Oraya, the adopted human daughter of a vampire king. Oraya enters the Kejari, a tournament held by the goddess of death, and there, she meets Raihn, a vampire from a rival house. She's human, he's vampire (and her father's enemy), but they quickly become unlikely allies to advance through the deadly competition.

Read more: The Best Vampire Books to Read Right Now

The Witching Hour (Lives of Mayfair Witches)

"In this, the first book in the series dedicated to the Mayfair family of witches, Rice blends the natural and supernatural into a satisfying, Gothic tale with twists, turns, and her always-compelling blend of history, fantasy, and reality," Harkness notes in a recommendation. The Witching Hour spans time and place at it follows the Mayfair family from modern New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam, a château in the Louis XIV's France, and the coffee plantations of Port au Prince, Haiti. Like A Discovery of Witches, it was adapted into a TV show (called Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches) and a second season is currently in the works.

Watch Mayfair Witches

The Witches of New York: A Novel

In The Witches of New York, a historical fantasy set in Gilded Age-era New York, witches Adelaide Thom and Eleanor St. Clair run a tea shop, where women come for "whispered confessions, secret cures, and spiritual assignations for a select society of ladies, who speak the right words and ask the right questions." When 17-year-old Beatrice arrives, they take her under her wing to try and train her—but when she disappears, Adelaid and Eleanor wonder if it was by choice or force.

The Rook: A Novel (The Rook Files Book 1)

If the political machinations of the Congregation are some of your favorite scenes in A Discovery of Witches, Daniel O'Malley's Rook Files series is for you. The magical spy story begins when a woman named Myfanwy Thomas awakens in a park in London, surrounded by dead bodies with no memory of how she got there. She learns that she's an agent in a top-secret government organization that protects the world from supernatural threats... and someone wants her dead. The Rook was also adapted into a TV show, and it aired for one season.

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The Name of the Rose

Ignoring the magic, witch-vampire romance, and time travel, A Discovery of Witches is also a mystery—one that revolves around an old and peculiar book. Harkness recommends fans of book mysteries read The Name of the Rose, which was first published in 1980. Umberto Eco's historical murder mystery is set in 1327 at a Benedictine abbey, where a monk is brought in to solve a series of bizarre deaths.

Read more: The Best Classic Murder Mystery Books of All Time

The Absolute Book: A Novel

A key part of A Discovery of Witches'appeal is its epic scope—and The Absolute Book matches that energy. Harkness herself blurbed this novel, writing, "Intricately plotted and gorgeously written, The Absolute Book is a cinematic tale that is by turns dark and dreamlike, yet ultimately hopeful."The book begins with Taryn, a woman whose sister was murdered when they were teens, and quickly spirals—there are questions about a fire in the library at her grandparents' house, an ancient scroll box known as the Firestarter, and a mysterious young man named Shift.

Outlander

If you love the A Discovery of Witches TV show, you're probably an Outlander fan, but on the off-chance you haven't read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, now is your chance. Like the All Souls series, the books feature time travel, epic romance, and magic—and have a binge-worthy TV adaptation.

Read more: How To Read the Outlander Books In Order

The Shadow of the Wind

Another classic mystery revolving around a book is Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind, set in Barcelona in 1945. Daniel, the son of an antiquarian book dealer, has found solace in a book by a mysterious author Julián Carax. When he tries to find more works by Carax, Daniel learns they've been systematically destroyed—and he may posses the last copy.

The Once and Future Witches

In The Once and Future Witches, it's 1893 and there's no such thing as witches—anymore. There used to be magic but now it's forbidden. However when the Eastwood sisters―James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna―join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to turn the burgeoning women's movement into a movement of witches.

The Witch's Heart

Angrboda, a witch, is banished from her community at the start of the story, and flees into the forest. There, she falls for Loki, the trickster god, and tries to understand her prophetic powers. It's a powerful retelling of Norse mythology; as author Margaret George wrote in her blurb, "A deep journey into the mists of the ancient Norse world of gods, monsters and humans, who shape shift from one to another. But the heart of the story is a witch’s passage over many lifetimes and the ultimate sacrifice she makes for those she loves. A timeless tale of great power and artistry."

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Though Harkness doesn't like to describe her novels as a romantasy, the romance between a vampire and a witch can definitely fall into the genre, which is a portmanteau of "romance" and "fantasy." If you're a fan of the romantasy genre, Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses should absolutely be on your radar. The story follows a young woman named Feyre as she gets unwittingly swept up in the world of ancient faeries and their politics.

Read more: How to Read the A Court of Thorns and Roses Books in Order

The Familiars: A Novel

Set against the real Pendle witch trials in 17th century England, The Familiars follows Fleetwood Shuttleworth, a noblewoman who is anxious to produce an heir. After three miscarriages, she's pregnant again, and seeks out local midwife Alice, but Alice is soon accused of witchcraft and Fleetwood must quickly find a way to free her.

The Starless Sea: A Novel

Like A Discovery of Witches, the plot of The Starless Sea begins with the discovery of a mysterious book. Zachary, a graduate student in Vermont, finds a book hidden in the stacks, and is mesmerized by the stories on its pages—until he comes across a chapter that tells a story from his own childhood. Soon, he's on a journey of secret clubs and ancient libraries as he tries to understand the book's message and his purpose.

From Blood and Ash (Blood And Ash Series)

Another romantasy, From Blood and Ash follows Poppy, a young woman who has been chosen as the "Maiden" to honor the gods. But as her mystery Ascension draws nearer, a new guard, Hawke, is assigned to her. Hawke is handsome yet infuriating at the same time, and Poppy finds herself increasingly drawn to him.

The Ministry of Time

If you loved Shadow of Night (the basis for season two of A Discovery of Witches), when Matthew and Diana travel back in time to Elizabethan London, you'll enjoy the time travel romance aspect of The Ministry of Time. In this debut novel, set in the near future, a civil servant is assigned to a secret project, working to rehabilitate "expats" from history—figures who the government has saved from their own time and brought to the present.

Read more: The 35 Best Books About Time Travel

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