Enlightenment

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MATILDA BOOKSHOP REVIEW

Thomas Hart is a uniquely self-contained gentleman who lives a life slightly out of step with his surroundings. His spiritualism and old-fashioned mannerisms are incongruous with modern life, but he is content... ish. A work opportunity leads him to researching two mysteries; the journey across the sky of Comet Hale-Bopp, and finding the identity of a local ghost. For the solitary Mr. Hart, reconciling his devotion to an often rigid faith with a growing wonder for the night sky will be just as emotionally taxing as his emerging (decidedly earthlier!) curiosity regarding a charming museum curator.

I had previously been enchanted by the maximalist, almost neo-Victorian prose Sarah Perry employs in her much-lauded novel The Essex Serpent. However, I do believe Enlightenment has replaced this beloved beast in my affections! Enlightenment is a warmer, more personal kind of story which cannot help but swell the heart. Of course, in true Perry fashion it is also intricately layered and richly descriptive. An absolute feast! Emilie

Description

An unforgettable story of love, faith and science, Enlightenment is Sarah Perry's finest novel to date

'A complete masterwork' SARAH HALL, author of The Electric Michelangelo

'Enlightenment is a gift' SE N HEWITT, author of All Down Darkness Wide

Thomas Hart and Grace Macauley are fellow worshippers at the Bethesda Baptist chapel in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits - torn between their commitment to religion and their desire for more. But their friendship is threatened by the arrival of love.

Thomas falls for James Bower, who runs the local museum. Together they develop an obsession with the vanished nineteenth-century female astronomer Maria Veduva, said to haunt a nearby manor, and whose startling astronomical discoveries may never have been acknowledged.

Inspired by Maria, and the dawning realisation James may not reciprocate his feelings, Thomas finds solace studying the night skies. Could astronomy offer as much wonder as divine or earthly love?

Meanwhile Grace meets Nathan, a fellow sixth former who represents a different, wilder kind of life. They are drawn passionately together, but quickly pulled apart, casting Grace into the wider world and far away from Thomas.

In time, the mysteries of Aldleigh are revealed, bringing Thomas and Grace back to each other and to a richer understanding of love, of the nature of the world, and the sheer miracle of being alive.