The Luminaries: A Novel

755 Pages·2013·3.95 MB·English

by  Eleanor Catton

ALSO BY ELEANOR CATTON
The Rehearsal

Copyright © 2013 by Eleanor Catton All rights reserved.
The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system,
without the prior written consent of the publisher – or, in case of photocopying or other
reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency – is an
infringement of the copyright law.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication is available upon request.
eISBN: 978-0-77101913-5
Illustrations copyright © Barbara Hilliam, 2013
McClelland & Stewart,
a division of Random House of Canada Limited
One Toronto Street
Suite 300
Toronto, Ontario
M5C 2V6
www.mcclelland.com
v3.1
for Pop, who sees the stars
and Jude, who hears their music
NOTE TO THE READER
The stellar and planetary positions in this book have been determined
astronomically. This is to say that we acknowledge the celestial
phenomenon known as precession, by which motion the vernal equinox,
the astrological equivalent of the Greenwich meridian, has come to shift.
The vernal equinox (autumnal in southern latitudes) formerly occurred
while the Sun was in the constellation of Aries, the first sign. It now
occurs while the Sun is in Pisces, the twelfth. Consequently, and as
readers of this book will note, each zodiacal sign ‘occurs’ approximately
one month later than popular information would have it. We mean no
disrespect to popular information by this correction; we do observe,
however, that the above error is held in defiance of the material fact of
our nineteenth-century firmament; and we dare to conjecture, further,
that such a conviction might be called Piscean in its quality—
emblematic, indeed, of persons born during the Age of Pisces, an age of
mirrors, tenacity, instinct, twinship, and hidden things. We are
contented by this notion. It further affirms our faith in the vast and
knowing influence of the infinite sky.
CHARACTER CHART
STELLAR:
Te Rau Tauwhare, a greenstone hunter
Charlie Frost, a banker
Benjamin Löwenthal, a newspaperman
Edgar Clinch, an hotelier
Dick Mannering, a goldfields magnate
Quee Long, a goldsmith
Harald Nilssen, a commission merchant
Joseph Pritchard, a chemist
Thomas Balfour, a shipping agent
Aubert Gascoigne, a justice’s clerk
Sook Yongsheng, a hatter
Cowell Devlin, a chaplain
PLANETARY:
Walter Moody
Lydia (Wells) Carver, née Greenway Francis Carver
Alistair Lauderback George Shepard
Anna Wetherell
Emery Staines
TERRA FIRMA:
Crosbie Wells
RELATED HOUSE:
The Wells Cottage (Arahura Valley) The Reserve Bank (Revell-street) The
West Coast Times Office (Weld-street) The Gridiron Hotel (Revell-
street) The Aurora Goldmine (Kaniere) ‘Chinatown Forge’ (Kaniere)
Nilssen & Co. (Gibson Quay) The Opium Den (Kaniere) Godspeed (a
barque, reg. Port Chalmers) Hokitika Courthouse (Magistrate’s Court)
The Wayfarer’s Fortune (Revell-street) Hokitika Gaol (Seaview)
RELATED INFLUENCE:
Reason
Desire
Force
Command
Restriction
Outermost (formerly Innermost) Innermost (formerly Outermost)
(deceased)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Note to the Reader
Character Chart
I A Sphere within a Sphere
Mercury in Sagittarius
Jupiter in Sagittarius
Mars in Sagittarius
Saturn in Libra
Midnight Dawns in Scorpio
Moon in Taurus, Waxing
Sun in Capricorn
Medium Coeli / Imum Coeli
True Node in Virgo
Venus in Capricorn
Conjunctions
Mercury in Sagittarius
II Auguries
Ecliptic
Aries in the Third House
Jupiter in Sagittarius
Mercury in Capricorn
The Lesser Malefic
Sun in Aquarius
Saturn in Libra
Mars in Capricorn
Cardinal Earth
A Month Without A Moon
Venus in Aquarius
III The House of Self-Undoing
Mercury in Aquarius
Sun in Pisces
Saturn in Virgo
Venus in Pisces
Jupiter in Capricorn
Moon in Aries, Crescent
Mars in Aquarius
Nga Potiki A Rehua / The Children of Antares
The Greater Malefic
Equinox
IV Paenga-wha-wha
First Point of Aries
Mercury in Pisces; Saturn Conjunct Moon
Venus Is A Morning Star
Exalted in Aries
The House of Many Wishes
Crux
Combust
Mercury Sets
Sun & Moon in Conjunction (New Moon)
V Weight and Lucre
Silver
Gold
Copper
Wu Xing
Iron
Tin
Tar
Makeweights
VI The Widow and the Weeds
Fixed Earth
Mars in Cancer
Te-Ra-O-Tainui
Accidental Dignity
Aries, Ruled By Mars
Sun in Gemini
Scorpio, Ruled By Mars