Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Secrets of Life and Death | 2013 | Rebecca Alexander | Buy |
| 2 | The Secrets of Blood and Bone | 2014 | Rebecca Alexander | Buy |
| 3 | The Secrets of Time and Fate | 2016 | Rebecca Alexander | Buy |
The Jackdaw Hammond series by Rebecca Alexander is a dark fantasy trilogy that started with The Secrets of Life and Death in 2013. The books blend historical fiction with supernatural elements, drawing on the real-life figures of Edward Kelley and John Dee, the sixteenth-century alchemist and occultist who served at the court of Elizabeth I.
The trilogy follows two timelines. In the present day, Jackdaw Hammond is a young woman kept alive by ancient sorcery, while the historical thread traces the original dark magic back to Kelley and Dee’s experiments. The Secrets of Blood and Bone (2014) and The Secrets of Time and Fate (2016) continue the story, raising the stakes as more occult forces come into play.
This series is quite different from Alexander’s later women’s fiction work. The Jackdaw Hammond books are darker, more plot-driven, and grounded in real historical research about Renaissance-era alchemy and the occult. The three books should be read in order since the overarching story builds across all three volumes.