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 prostitute 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 vividly
rendered and made into a major BBC TV series 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
