The following version of this novel was used in the creation of this study guide: Harkness, Deborah. The Black Bird Oracle. Ballantine Books. 2024. Hardcover First Edition.

In Part One, Diana and her family are preparing for their yearly summer trip to Europe when a summons from the Congregation arrives, demanding that Diana’s twins, Rebecca (Becca) and Philip (Pip) have their magic tested soon. At the same time, a flock of ravens arrive with a ring for Becca and Diana receives a second letter from her mysterious Great Aunt Gwyneth inviting her to come home to Ravenswood. Desperate to protect her children and learn more about her past, Diana accepts the invitation.

Arriving in Ipswich, Massachusetts, Diana learns that her father is actually a descendant of the Proctor family and forbade her mother from practicing their higher magic. However, Gwyneth believes Diana needs to follow the Dark Path herself, especially if her children decide to pursue higher magic once they are older. Diana is then chosen by the black bird oracle, a set of magical tarot cards that Diana can use to see potential futures.

Unfortunately, this draws the attention of a jealous witch named Meg who accuses Gwyneth of ignoring the coven’s rules and teaching an outsider (Diana) higher magic. Even though Gwyneth argues that Diana is a Proctor, Meg believes that Diana’s Bishop heritage and her marriage to a vampire, Matthew, makes her dangerous. Desperate to stand up for her Great Aunt, Diana accepts Meg’s challenge to prove herself at the Crossroads and invites both Matthew and their children to Ravenswood as she prepares.

In Part Two, Diana and Becca pay respects to their ancestors, Bridge Bishop, but Meh continues to insult them. This eventually leads to an argument between Diana and Matthew which causes Becca to run into the Raven’s Wood. They find her playing with ravens inside a powerful, magical ward, and Diana realizes Becca has a predisposition for higher magic.

Later, after a week of practice and advice from various Proctor ghosts, Diana enters the Crossroads. Even though Meg tries to stop her, Diana finds a shade of her aunt, Naomi, who is trapped in a mystical nightmare realm known as Elsewhere. Diana helps her escape, which reveals the path to the goddess, marking Diana as an initiate of higher magic.

Diana’s success and a massive Proctor family reunion prompts Matthew to look into their genealogy. There, he discovers that Diana is actually the granddaughter of a man named Thomas Lloyd who worked with Grandpa Tilly during World War II. Furthermore, Matthew's granddaughter Juliet arrives with terrible news: Meg went against coven protocol and told the Congregation about Diana's journey into the crossroads. This led her to seeing the Book of Life within Diana, as well as its ties to a dangerous magic known as bloodcraft.

Determined to protect her family, Diana goes with Juliet and Gwenyth to track down memory jars at the Bishop household. However, when her aunt Sarah tries to stop them, Diana is surprised to find a collection of her memories from childhood that were removed. She also learns through one of Rebecca’s memories that Diana’s longtime rival, Peter Knox, was obsessed with her mother and was certain Diana had more power than he could see. Furthermore, he tells Rebecca that memories from many witches are being kept by the congregation, many without their owner’s knowledge.

In Part Three, everyone comes together to see Grissel’s memories and learn that they are all tied to Bridget’s prophecy. Diana decides to go to Venice with Janet and Ysabeau to retrieve her family’s memory bottles, hoping that it will give them some more information. With Janet’s help, Diana sneaks into the Congregation’s memory palace and gathers as many bottles as possible before she is caught by the newest member, Tinima. She refuses to fight Diana as a novice, but says they will meet again before letting Diana go.

However, since Diana showed an aptitude for higher magic that was not detected as a child, the Congregation demands that she and her children take a Magical Aptitude Test. Diana’s worse enemy Satu arrives to test Diana’s twins before informing Diana that she has been chosen to return to Venice in one year as a potential adept of higher magic. When Diana demands that Satu leave her family alone, Satu refuses, as the Congregation will be very interested in Becca’s potential for higher magic and Pip’s unique weaver abilities. As she leaves, Diana vows to protect her children.