15 Books to Watch for in February 2011

She's a Yale history professor who's uncovered a mysterious ancient text in Oxford's Bodleian Library; he's a geneticist with a lab nearby. She's also a New England witch; he's a 1,500-year-old vampire. This intriguing pair are the lovers at the center of A Discovery of Witches (Viking), the romantic, erudite, and suspenseful first novel by Deborah Harkness. The first in a planned trilogy, it sets up blood drinkers and spell weavers as enemies for eternity in a feud as old as the Crusades; the duo confront social disapproval and intolerance as they elude evildoers and puzzle out enigmas throughout history. A professor at the University of Southern California (and an award-winning wine critic), Harkness attends to every scholarly and emotional detail with whimsy, sensuality, and humor.