The Luminaries

In January 1866, young Walter Moody lands in a gold-mining frontier town on the west coast of New Zealand to make his fortune and forever leave behind a family scandal. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of 12 local men who have met in secret to investigate what links three crimes that occurred on a single day: the town's wealthiest man has vanished. An enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. A prostitute has supposedly tried to end her life. But nothing is quite as it seems. As the men share their stories, what emerges is an intricate network of alliances and betrayals, secrets and lies, that is as exquisitely patterned as the night sky. (From McClelland & Stewart)

The Luminaries won the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction and the Man Booker Prize in 2013.

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From the book

Interviews with Eleanor Catton

Booker Prize winner

11 years ago

Duration 4:07

Eleanor Catton speaks with CBC's Nahlah Ayed about her Booker Prize win and her early years in Canada

RAW: Eleanor Catton on her GG lit award win

11 years ago

Duration 2:05

The Luminaries author nabs Canadian literary prize a month after Man Booker win

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