The Luminaries
Winner of the Man Booker Prize of 2013. Wonderful novel taking place in New-Zealand during the golden rush. Une intrigue complexe et fine à la fois, vrai roman d'aventure historique mais pas seulement. L'auteur s'amuse avec nous et nous mène de révélations en révélations tout en nous laissant à la fin du livre avec une grande envie de continuer dans le monde qu'elle a créé pour nous.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about The Luminaries
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
On a wet January night in 1866, prospector Walter Moody walks into the smoking room of the Crown Hotel in Hokitika and finds twelve men holding a private council. Each man tells him what he knows about a hermit dead in his cabin, a vanished young miner, and a fortune in gold.
Yes. The Luminaries won the 2013 Booker Prize. Eleanor Catton was 28 at the time, the youngest Booker winner ever. The Luminaries is also the longest novel ever to win the prize at over 800 pages.
Yes. The Luminaries is structured around astrology with each chapter half the length of the previous one. The 19th-century New Zealand gold rush setting and complex chronology can be demanding. Most readers find rewards in long-haul commitment.
The Luminaries is 832 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Luminaries takes most readers 12 to 18 hours to finish.
The Luminaries is a standalone novel by an unknown author, not part of a series.
The Luminaries is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.