WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 'A breathtakingly ambitious mystery ... as beautiful as it is
triumphant' Daily Mail An astonishing epic story of promise deceit and desperation in New
Zealand's gold rush. 'What brings a fellow down here you know to the ends of the earth -
what sparks a man?' 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 woman
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 both a ghost story and a gripping mystery. Set amidst the promise deceit and
desperation of the mid-19th century goldrush the lives of its rich complex cast unspool
through a labyrinthine celestial pattern. Fiendishly clever and vividly rendered The
Luminaries established Catton as one of the brightest stars in the firmament. 'A book to curl
up with and devour intricately plotted and extravagantly described a pastiche of the
Victorian sensation novel in the same smart yet playful vein as Sarah Waters' Guardian
