The Guardian
The Luminaries
By Eleanor Catton
- 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 for someone still in her mid-20s, and will confirm for critics and readers that Catton is one of the brightest stars in the international writing firmament.
Guardian and Observer reviews
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton – review
Catton's epic novel about the New Zealand goldrush has been shortlisted for the Man Booker prize. Kirsty Gunn weighs up an intricately crafted shaggy dog storyThe Luminaries by Eleanor Catton – review
Eleanor Catton's Booker contender is a mesmerising tale set in 19th-century New Zealand, writes Lucy Scholes
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