The Luminaries

by Eleanor Catton

3.22 of 5 stars 9 ratings • 7 reviews • 20 shelved
Book cover for The Luminaries

Bookhype may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure.

It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes. A wealthy man has vanished, a whore has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky.
The Luminaries is an extraordinary piece of fiction. It is full of narrative, linguistic and psychological pleasures, and has a fiendishly clever and original structuring device. Written in pitch-perfect historical register, richly evoking a mid-19th century world of shipping and banking and goldrush boom and bust, it is also a ghost story, and a gripping mystery. It is a thrilling achievement and will confirm for critics and readers that Catton is one of the brightest stars in the international writing firmament.
  • ISBN10 0316126950
  • ISBN13 9780316126953
  • Publish Date 15 October 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Imprint Little Brown and Company
  • Format eBook
  • Language English