The Beat That My Heart Skipped – A blog dedicated to daily design inspirations. By Rohini Wahi.

After a hectic summer of traveling and sightseeing and writing, without any space in my head for reading – I find myself tucking myself away for the beginning of winter with A Discovery of Witches, a fictional debut by Deborah Harkness – a historian who’s other books include non-fiction publications on Elizabethan London and very aptly – the celebrated alchemist John Dee.

An epic tale beginning in the dark old libraries of Oxford, A Discovery of Witches centers on historian Diana Bishop, a witch with a rich lineage. Diana busies herself away with her studies in an effort to ignore her magical powers that have only caused her trouble in her youth. However, the discovery of a mysterious book accidentally magicked up by Diana from the stacks of the Bodleian library, unleashes a world of witches vampires and demons who believe that the manuscript contains important clues about their past and future.

Chief amongst the creatures who gather around Diana is vampire Matthew Clairmont, a geneticist with a passion for Darwin. Together, Diana and Matthew embark on a journey to understand the manuscript’s secrets. But the relationship that develops between the ages-old vampire and the witch threatens to unravel the fragile peace that has long existed between creatures and humans.

A sometimes faltering but mostly gripping tale [stick with it you will be rewarded], A Discovery of Witches takes the reader from the cobbled old streets of Cambridge, to gothic chateaus in France and magical New England towns. A lengthy tome, the novel acquaints us well with a colourful cast of characters  – charming families of witches and complex vampire clans, whom I find myself missing when I close my book for the night.

A Discovery of Witches is published by Headline – big thanks to them for sending me copy to review!

For the new Jane Eyre starring Mia Wasikowska… It’s already out in the US, and will be with us in the UK in September. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I love a gothic drama in the cosy winter months!

Mia Wasikowska played a haunting characterization of Alice in the most recent Alice in Wonderland and I think she’ll make a perfect Jane. Other stars include Micheal Fassbender as Mr. Rochester and what would a good period drama be without Dame Judie Dench, who plays Mrs Fairfax.

Watch the trailer here.

Sometimes you hit the inspiration jackpot while browsing online and The Sketchbook Series on one of my favourite design blogs Book By Its Cover is just that. The Sketchbook Series is a section of the book design blog that invites artists to share their personal sketchbooks.

With notable illustrators like Jen Corace and Julie Morstad opening up their beautiful minds, the series includes sweet details like notes from the illustrators remembering where they sketched a particular piece and insights into how they create.

This is one book that I judged correctly by it’s cover… you see the stars actually twinkle gold in the light and the silhouettes of the characters glisten with movement as though they are skipping out of the pages.

‘Tender Morsels’ is a delicious fairy tale for adults. Dark and vivid – the story is set in a mythical Eastern European town that is a sinister mirror of our childhood folk stories. The tale opens in that lonely hut at the edge of a dark wood that has become a familiar landmark in the geography of fear.

The story surrounds 15 year old Liga who endures unspeakable cruelties at the hands of her father, before being magically granted her own personal heaven, a safe haven from the real world. She raises her two daughters in this alternate reality, and they grow up protected from the violence that once harmed their mother. But soon,  Magicked men and wild bears break down the borders of their refuge. Now, having known Heaven, how will these three women survive in a world where beauty and brutality lie side by side?

Author Margo Lanagan is fearless in her narrative – there are times when the violence of the book is uncomfortable reading, but there are also times when the prose reads almost like poetry. Although devastation can be found within these pages, there is also magic and hope – the idea that you must confront the dark and the dirty to experience the beauties of life within it.

Tender Morsels is published by Random House

Has the sunshine gone? Perhaps now the freckles (I’ll pretend they aren’t sun damage) will fade away and I can return to my British pale and lovely complexion that plagues me most of the year. I think, due to the number of small people hovering around the streets, that schools have broken up. It now makes the tube impossible to get anywhere without have to step over these said small people en route.

You are especially doomed if like me you live or work within a tube stop for something that these people might actually want to visit in their holidays (Tooting Lido – come on it’s just a big pool, you don’t really want to go there do you?) it’s a nightmare and it makes my head want to implode. This is coupled with the fact that London Underground have decided that every few weekends they will just shut down South London by closing the Northern line – but it’s ok you can take a replacement bus – which takes 45mins. 45 mins to add to any journey – great! What exactly do I pay for in my Oyster card these days? Small people and buses stuck in traffic apparently.

Well good riddance for rain – maybe now they will stay at home and read a book or maybe which is more likely I will stay at home and read a book. This week we have something for all ages ‘The Prince of Mist’ by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. A chilling horror tale that will scare you nicely into submission to never leave the house again, just incase you should encounter anything like this yourself.

The story’s hero is Max Carver a nine year old the son of a watchmaker and inventor who due to the war has moved to the seaside with his family. The house once belonged to a highly regarded surgeon Dr Richard Fleischmann and within the overgrown garden of the house Max finds something sinister. A group of statues which sit within a metal fence crowned by a pointed star. On closer inspection these statues turn out to be a circus troop (turn away now if you have a fear a clowns) and the central figure is a huge clown.

As the tale unravels we have the mystery of a wardrobe speaking to his sister and beckoning her to come to it. There is the discovery of the wreck of a boat that sank many years ago where everyone perished except one man an engineer. You may never want to go diving again after you read this book so perhaps if you have a fear of open water and clowns steer clear. Nothing however is ‘hammed up’ the story is exciting and thrilling and Zafron’s skill shines through to create a book perfect for the young adult range but to be loved by adult readers alike. It has all the main ingredients of thrilling read but twists it into something new and powerful. The book is pure magic and takes pride of place in the school holiday read section.