The Book of Life

This section is awash with unrealized expectations. From finding the missing pages, to the struggles in finding the Book of Life, to Matthew’s return, and even the birth of the twins, complex challenges quickly resolve themselves. At the same time, the obstacles the characters believed easy to overcome become far more complicated. This section’s tension rapidly increases as the story approaches its conclusion.

First, after multiple conversations with Matthew, Diana expects that they will no longer keep secrets from each other or, at least, refrain from creating new secrets. Matthew defies this expectation by immediately searching for Benjamin and purposely keeping Diana from this. While he keeps this secret ostensibly to protect her, as stress is problematic at this point in the pregnancy, no one involved in the search believes Matthew can keep this secret for long. As such, Matthew is only setting himself up for another uncomfortable argument with his wife, as well as another crack in the foundation of their trust. Although the consequences of this secret have yet to hit Matthew, there is no doubt that they are coming, thus highlighting the theme of The Impact of Secrets as a central point of conflict.

To set up the new scion, Matthew has to face the consequences of another secret: the actual reason behind the slaughter of the New Orleans vampires. Matthew finally explains the blood rage to Marcus’s remaining children and grandchildren and how he had to kill all symptomatic vampires to prevent the Congregation from killing them all. With Marcus’s help, this confession goes better than expected. The New Orleans vampires, except for Ransome, agree to join Matthew’s scion with little fuss. Ransome’s cooperation hinges on a bet: if Matthew can list the names of all the vampires he killed in New Orleans, Ransome will join his scion. Matthew recites the names for five hours, shocking Ransome. Ransome asks, “How can you possibly remember all of them?” (1507). Matthew replies, “How could I ever forget’” (1507). This heavy burden of guilt is key to understanding Matthew’s character, as he has lived a long life and often been forced to carry out horrible deeds; this is part of his plight as a vampire, which speaks to the theme of The Challenges of Power. With never-ending life and super strength, Matthew has also been someone he can barely face, let alone allow others to truly see. Matthew will have to reconcile with his guilt in order to fully embrace his new life.

Although Matthew is agonized by this task, Matthew’s quest to gain Marcus’s children’s cooperation is somewhat anticlimactic. Matthew set the expectation that forming the scion would be difficult, violent, and time-consuming, possibly taking years. In reality, most of Marcus’s children and grandchildren readily agree to join the scion after Matthew tells them they are all blood-rage carriers. They need Matthew’s protection. Ransome is the only holdout, but Matthew also quickly meets his demands. The entire process takes under two months for Matthew to complete. The ease of completion may be due to fate as opposed to free will, but the result is unexpected and, therefore, dissatisfying. This separation is a substantial emotional stumbling block for both Diana and Matthew. Whenever Diana falters, others remind her, “Matthew is doing what he has to do [...] you need to do your job, too’” (1453). This platitude gives Diana and the reader the impression that Matthew’s job is far more demanding than Diana’s. While Matthew’s work is complicated and emotionally draining, he completes it far more easily than Diana does.

Though much of Diana’s work is challenging, she easily overcomes some obstacles. For example, all it takes to confirm Diana’s suspicions that the Book of Life has a violent history is a trip to see Amira. Visiting Amira is not even a separate trip, as Diana goes to The Old Lodge as a stopping point on the way to get the last Ashmole 782 page. Acquiring the last page is also far more manageable than expected, as Diana already knows its daemon owner. Although Timothy refuses to sell or lend Diana the page, he happily places it in her care if she promises to remember his grandfather. After two chapters of build-up, this is another anticlimactic conclusion that again likely ties into fate, as it seems that Diana and Matthew were prophesized.

Even the twins’ birth fails to meet expectations. After a difficult pregnancy, Diana’s labor is a relatively short five hours. The babies arrive without complications. However, Rebecca was born at 11:55 p.m. and Philip at 12:15 a.m. As such, the babies have different birthdays and zodiac signs. Rebecca is a Scorpio, and Philip is a Sagittarius.

While the characters quickly overcome multiple obstacles that once seemed impossible, several remain insurmountable, and the overall plot is undeniably complex. First, Matthew’s group cannot find Benjamin. Second, Diana still needs help to get Ashmole 782—another disappointment, as retrieving the book should have been the most straightforward task. However, Diana’s father bound the book to the Bodleian library, but the Bodleian moved all the Ashmole books elsewhere. Therefore, Ashmole 782 is still in the Bodleian, but Diana cannot retrieve it.

Further complicating matters, while Benjamin is conspicuously absent as Diana hunts for the last pages, he appears the minute she tries to get the book itself. The group underestimated Benjamin, so while Diana was well-guarded when hunting the pages, she was unprotected in the library. However, this seeming lack of protection is not entirely accurate, as Diana had the goddess’s arrow in the library. The goddess even warns Diana, “When you have need of it, do not hesitate. And aim true” (1493). Yet, when the time comes, Diana does hesitate and misses her opportunity to kill Benjamin. In that moment, though Diana held great power, she hesitated because of who she is as a multi-faceted person: Diana does not wish to kill anyone, let alone Matthew’s son. While Benjamin is unacknowledged, he is still family, thus tying into the theme of Family as Both Comfort and Grief. Diana feels conflicted when faced with actually killing Benjamin, but she later grieves this decision, only finding comfort in Matthew’s assurances.

Deborah Harkness plays with the characters’ and readers’ expectations in this section. Tasks that appeared difficult were not. The tasks that appeared easy became incredibly difficult. While the family tensions finally begin to ease in this section, the external tension rises as outside complications make the Bishop-Clairmont clan’s tasks all the more difficult.