A glorious, sweeping novel of desire, ambition, and the thirst for knowledge, from the # 1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love, Big Magic, and City of Girls In The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction, inserting her inimitable voice into an enthralling story of love, adventure and discovery. Spanning much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the … eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the novel follows the fortunes of the extraordinary Whittaker family as led by the enterprising Henry Whittaker—a poor-born Englishman who makes a great fortune in the South American quinine trade, eventually becoming the richest man in Philadelphia. Born in 1800, Henry’s brilliant daughter, Alma (who inherits both her father’s money and his mind), ultimately becomes a botanist of considerable gifts herself. As Alma’s research takes her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, she falls in love with a man named Ambrose Pike who makes incomparable paintings of orchids and who draws her in the exact opposite direction—into the realm of the spiritual, the divine, and the magical. Alma is a clear-minded scientist; Ambrose a utopian artist—but what unites this unlikely couple is a desperate need to understand the workings of this world and the mechanisms behind all life.
Exquisitely researched and told at a galloping pace, The Signature of All Things soars across the globe—from London to Peru to Philadelphia to Tahiti to Amsterdam, and beyond. Along the way, the story is peopled with unforgettable characters: missionaries, abolitionists, adventurers, astronomers, sea captains, geniuses, and the quite mad. But most memorable of all, it is the story of Alma Whittaker, who—born in the Age of Enlightenment, but living well into the Industrial Revolution—bears witness to that extraordinary moment in human history when all the old assumptions about science, religion, commerce, and class were exploding into dangerous new ideas. Written in the bold, questing spirit of that singular time, Gilbert’s wise, deep, and spellbinding tale is certain to capture the hearts and minds of readers.
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Love, Loved this book. Learned so much history.
One of my favorite books. So original and different from her other books – informative, educational, and different.
One of my favorite books
Wonderful, Wonderful Book. So much to THINK about
I feel like there was a lot of sex a way to engage readers. The characters seemed incomplete. .
I highly recommend this book to female scientists, especially biologists. The trek through biology 200 years ago from a female viewpoint was both poignant and refreshing. A great read.
Elizabeth Gilbert writes historical fiction with wonderful multi-faceted characters and deep sense of place. Exceptional writing.
Fabulously written book. A pleasure to read such an erudite piece of literatrue that held my attention completely!
One of the best books I’ve ever read!
Loved it
Writing was lyrical, like reading a poem. Rich descriptives.it is a long book yet I didn’t want it to end.
An all-time favorite!!
lengthy, but memorable
A great big juicy historical novel written by Elizabeth Gilbert (yes, the Eat Pray Love lady) about a lady scientist who is essentially forced to study moss when all the good stuff is taken by her male counterparts. Dive in and stay a while.
It took a while to get in to the rather dry beginning — with staid though intelligent and colorful characters. .. but then i was hooked.
Most of all i did like the intelligence of the female protagonist shown and with it her aloneness and observations of other humans… and the flora she studies.
When Elizabeth Gilbert’s heroine cried in the arms of a man, she did not just weep. She “shook like a rattling skeleton. Her sobbing did not subside. She clung to him with such force that it would have broken the ribs of a lesser man.” Ultimately, she wanted to be “blotted out by him, absorbed into his guts, erased, negated.” Despite overwriting (resulting in a novel of 499 pages), Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things (Viking, 2013) will please those who treasure Eat, Pray, Love. Gilbert moves from nonfiction to fiction with the facility of a writer whose early years were spent selling work to national magazines. The worst of Gilbert is her slothlike pace. The best is that the reader learns much from her wide-ranging research, such as the reason the Hawaiians tore Captain Cook limb from limb, the ruthlessness of Joseph Banks in building London’s Kew Gardens, and the amazing properties of mosses. Gilbert’s Alma Whittaker is homely, stolid, wealthy and smart, a fascinating combination as she grows up on a sprawling American estate in an era that prizes few such qualities in a girl. Her character serves her well as she launches through unexpected territory that includes Tahiti as well as the quixotic landscape of her own adult life.
Absolutely outstanding! I had read Eat, Love, Pray and thoroughly loved it. This book is incredibly different in style and has increased my admiration for the talent of Elizabeth Gilbert’s skill at crafting a marvelous tale. Her writing is excellent, and it was an absolute pleasure to read. I highly recommend it although I suspect it will be most enjoyed by females.
(I must preface my review by stating that I synched my Kindle up w/Audible, sometimes reading and sometimes listening to Juliet Stevenson, the narrator, recount Alma’s story.)
The Signature of All Things was a near-perfect “10”. The characters in this delightful saga were well-developed and the way in which Ms Gilbert incorporated the passion of her protagonist for the science of mosses, without bogging down the fluidity of the story, demonstrated that she is at the top of her game as a writer. Whether or not you have an interest in botany, brace yourself for a memorable reading experience… and this comes from one who would rate Eat, Pray, Love as average at best.
Sweeping epic with fascinating characters
This book was surprisingly good. The author is quite educated in all things Moss, as it was what the character obsessed with. I actually really enjoyed this book.