Murder, she wrote
Falling in love with a fictional person is one of the greatest pleasures in life, Canadian-born writer Eleanor Catton believes. By the time readers have finished The Luminaries, they will have been enchanted by many of her characters, as they slowly reveal themselves through the novel’s intriguing web of interactions and relationships.
Catton has set The Luminaries in Hokitika, New Zealand, during the gold rush in 1865 and 1866. It’s a brilliant choice, giving her the scope to introduce the extensive players in a convoluted drama: a lawyer newly arrived to seek his fortune; a Chinese opium-dealer who has vowed to kill the scheming ship’s captain who wronged him; a Maori greenstone hunter; a prostitute who holds the town’s heart; the boy who loves her but has disappeared; an ambitious politician; the dead (murdered?) hermit; the hermit’s conniving wife; a Chinese miner/goldsmith; a banker who wrestles with his conscience; a shipping agent who plays detective; the town pimp; the newspaperman; and the magistrate and his clerk, among others. Just those brief descriptions provide an immediate sense of how the stock characters may drive the plot — and they do.
The story begins with Walter Moody, the Scottish lawyer, arriving in Hokitika and stumbling upon a private meeting of 12 of the aforementioned men. They have gathered to try to solve the puzzle of the death of the hermit, Crosbie Wells; the disappearance of Emery Staines, the boy who loves the prostitute; and the mysterious opium overdose of said prostitute, Anna Wetherell, found unconscious in the middle of the road the same night that Staines disappears. As Moody listens to the piece of the truth that each of the 12 men provides by telling their story of events related to that fateful night, the lawyer begins to form his own opinion of the character of each man and his relationship to the others — and to the truth.
The Luminaries contains elements of a conventional thriller, and it is certainly peppered with surprises. But Catton also upends convention. She combines the stylistic elements of a 19th-century novel, complete with synopses that head each chapter, astrological charts, and Zodiac signs assigned to each character. Further, the structure of the novel revolves around the archetypal pattern of the Sun and its relationship to the Moon and the planets. This unique structure and its symbolism have captured the hearts of critics, along with the intricacy of Catton’s plot and her shifting use of narrative perspective. Combined with her effortless mastery of 19th-century writing style, and her own lyrical gift, Catton is a worthy nominee for the Man Booker or Governor General literary prizes, for which she has been nominated.
At 28, Catton, who was born in London, Ont., but grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand, is the youngest writer ever to make the shortlist for the prestigious Man Booker literary honour, which will be announced October 15 in London, England. (The GG award winner will be announced Nov. 13 in Toronto.) The Luminaries is only her second novel; she wrote the first, The Rehearsal, as a Masters’ thesis. This book, she says, was born of her fascination with philosopher Martin Buber’s I and Thou, and with the archetypes created by psychoanalyst Carl Jung.
The Luminaries is a book which, despite its length and slow start, requires repeated readings to fully grasp the depth and cleverness of Catton’s plotting and writing. Unlike the usual thriller, many questions remain unanswered at its end. The exact manner of the hermit’s death remains opaque and the convoluted transmutation of the gold at the centre of the plot is dizzyingly difficult to follow.
Although not deeply interested in the astrological symbolism, I was appreciative of Catton’s story-telling prowess and enraptured of her characters. In persuading us to fall in love with them, she accomplished her goal. Laura Eggertson is an Ottawa-based writer and editor.