Chaos always ensues when you “read from the Book” in movies. A Discovery of Witches is no exception. Warner Bros is adapting the novel written by Deborah Harkness for the big screen. The story follows a witch who is “a direct descendant of the first woman executed in the Salem Witch trials” and “accidentally unlocks an enchanted manuscript and finds herself in a race to prevent an interspecies war” involving vampires.

According to Variety, Warner Bros acquired the rights to the book in the summer of 2011. David Auburn, who won a Tony Award for Best Play in 2001 for his play Proof, will be writing the screenplay. Denise Di Novi and Allison Greenspan are producers on this project.

A Discovery of Witches is the first book in the All Souls Trilogy.

Synopsis of A Discovery of Witches:

When historian Diana Bishop opens a bewitched alchemical manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library it represents an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordinary life. Though descended from a long line of witches, she is determined to remain untouched by her family’s legacy. She banishes the manuscript to the stacks, but Diana finds it impossible to hold the world of magic at bay any longer.

For witches are not the only otherworldly creatures living alongside humans. There are also creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires who become interested in the witch’s discovery. They believe that the manuscript contains important clues about the past and the future, and want to know how Diana Bishop has been able to get her hands on the elusive volume.

Chief among 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 spellbound witch threatens to unravel the fragile peace that has long existed between creatures and humans—and will certainly transform Diana’s world as well.