#122 in Historical fiction
The Luminaries
- 832
- Pages
- about 15 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 0 weeks on the list
- Booker Prize
- Ockham New Zealand Book Awards
- Governor General's Award for English-language fiction
- Australian Book Industry Awards
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About the book
The Luminaries is a 2013 novel by Eleanor Catton. Set in New Zealand's South Island in 1866, the novel follows Walter Moody, a prospector who travels to the West Coast settlement of Hokitika to make his fortune on the goldfields. Instead, he stumbles into a tense meeting between twelve local men, and is drawn into a complex mystery involving a series of unsolved crimes. The novel's complex structure is based on the system of Western astrology, with each of the twelve local men representing one of the twelve signs of the zodiac, and with another set of characters representing planets in the Solar System.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.6 across 168 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 53% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Historical fiction average of 8.0. That is how 7.9 comes out. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.0 | 18 | 11% |
| Hardcover | 7.6 | 150 | 89% |
Reader voices
The most-liked reviews on Hardcover (credited to their authors).
“most of the astrological stuff went right over my head but it's a bloody good story”
“It was with anticipation that I sat down to read Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries. I did so not long after it was announced that the young author had won the Man Booker Prize in 2013. I was excited to be reading a novel so acclaimed…”
Frequently asked
How long is The Luminaries?
It has 832 pages — longer than 87% of the ranked books in Historical fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Historical fiction — with scores between 7.9 and 8.0, closest to this book.
