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.

 

This year’s most challenging read would have to be Booker winner, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. Not a group to easily shy away from a challenge, everyone made a concerted effort to tackle this 800+ page door stop!

From a discussion perspective, this novel delivered an abundance of material. We found the author’s use of astrological charts to define her characters intriguing. Their circular synergy was captivating, releasing piece by piece everything needed to form a full picture of this literary jigsaw puzzle.

Although clearly a mystery set within the Victorian backwater of New Zealand’s south island, the multitude of layers formed by the different character viewpoints made this more than just a whodunit novel (Dickens came to mind for most of us). Keeping track of the various cast members was not easy, but for those of us who persevered, the awards were great. The plot, setting and description were all brilliantly combined and none of us could say we were not literally picked up and placed on the muddy streets of a colonial goldfield!

Alas, it was a little too much for some of us, who simply found the volume of pages a stumbling block too big to get over. But if you love a large chunk of well researched and brilliantly constructed literature, then The Luminaries must be your next big read!