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十九世紀全球受到工業革命影響，大量機器取代人力造成失業潮，生活貧苦的百姓紛紛尋求致富之道，加上工業化後，金屬礦物需求提高，一陣淘金熱從此展開，一路從美國加州擴及到大西洋的澳洲與紐西蘭。
年輕的探礦者 Walter Moody 跟隨大批從英國出發的淘金人潮，來到紐西蘭西岸的霍基蒂卡。某天夜裡，他偶然撞見一場秘密聚會 – 十二名男子神色凝重地聚在一起，為了釐清當地發生的一連串疑雲之間是否有所關聯：有錢探礦者離奇失蹤、妓女吸毒過量臥倒路邊、偏僻小屋中發現的大量黃金。
隨著每個人說出自己視角的故事，真相也越發撲朔迷離。探礦者的失蹤似乎有跡可循？妓女是誰，又為何企圖以毒品自殺？偏僻小屋中的大量黃金從何而來？而 Moody 在船上目睹的那起事件，似乎將這些事件巧妙地一一串連起來…
作者 Eleanor Catton 透過相互交織的敘述，多重視角的切入點，以十二星座為敘事架構，所有人在這之中互相牽引卻又對自己所造成的影響渾然不知，不斷顛覆先前的事實，揭露不合理之假象，打造虛實交錯的空間，每次視角的切換都是重塑讀者對於真相的認知。這部長達八百多頁的長篇小說，透過各種角色的立場探討了貪婪、正義、命運及自我認同等議題，精準且真實的筆觸，彷彿寫出一段真實存在於淘金潮時代的歷史故事。
An astonishing, epic story of promise, deceit and desperation in New Zealand's gold rush.
'What brings a fellow down here, you know, to the ends of the earth - what sparks a man?'
It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes. A wealthy man has vanished, a prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky.
The Luminaries is an extraordinary piece of fiction, both a ghost story and a gripping mystery. Set amidst the promise, deceit and desperation of the mid-19th century goldrush, the lives of its rich, complex cast unspool through a labyrinthine, celestial pattern. Fiendishly clever, vividly rendered and made into a major BBC TV series, The Luminaries established Catton as one of the brightest stars in the firmament.
