If you know anything about me, it’s that I love books. Even more so, I love finding great, under-appreciated stories that remain unrepresented in popular media. Recently, I finished one exactly of the sorts: a novel titled Time’s Convert written by Deborah Harkness. I came across this book in a pretty unique way as I bought it in an amazing bookstore in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. This bookstore was called “Island Booksellers” and quite honestly, its owners are living the dream! Both from the continental United States, the married couple moved to St. Thomas after their retirement to own and operate a bookstore in the beautiful island atmosphere.
Anyways, I found this book of which I had never heard anything of before. The cover was the first thing that attracted me, with a complex design of deep reds and oranges, two faces mirroring one another in profile, and a clock against an old city backdrop. Furthermore, at the time of purchase I had been looking for a new series to get into and it just so happened that Times Convert is part of a trilogy!
The book is of a rather complicated nature as it follows a variety of characters over centuries of time (and yes, I said centuries!). The majority of the characters are vampires, and therefore immortal. Centered (mostly) on a vampire named Marcus De Clermont, the book alternates between past and present, human and vampire, and tragedy and love. Wrought with well-researched world history and iconic historical figures, the book blurs the line between fiction and reality.
Apart from Marcus however, the novel also provides insight into the life of Phoebe (Marcus’s lover) who is a “newborn” vampire, and Diana, a witch who married into the vampire family! With these varied perspectives and personalities, readers are given a comprehensive view of the complications associated with the De Clermont family, and they are fully immersed in the world Harkness has created.
I really enjoyed this book, despite the fact that I don’t read as much fantasy these days. It was a unique and engaging read that I would recommend to any historical fiction or fantasy lover. That being said, I do realize that I technically made a mistake in reading this book!
I was made aware about halfway through my reading that Times Convert is actually a spin-off novel of the original All The Souls Trilogy. While this did not hinder my ability to understand the contents of the story at all I worry that it may have spoiled some of the books I have yet to read. Needless to say, I intend on reading the trilogy series which starts with a novel called A Discovery of Witches and if this type of historical fantasy story is up your alley, I recommend you do the same