The Signature of All Things [B0749]

2013 HCDJ 1st edition in nice clean condition. 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 novel follows botanist Alma Whittaker and utopian artist Ambrose Pike who makes incomparable paintings of orchids. 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. Together, the couple 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. From GoodReads reviews: "Given my own history and studies with environmental sciences, I loved this book. A fictional telling of natural science history, of discovery, and of a remarkable woman's life. Wonderful, poetic writing, great characters, and well researched."; "Engaging, with a narrative that's historically interesting as well as an entertaining read."; "I enjoyed reading this book, though I wouldn't describe it as a page turner. Bucolic in pace, content, and intensity, I found it comforting and pleasant. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but I truly enjoyed it."; "Loved this book - hard to explain to anyone what it's about without it sounding incredibly dull, but it's not! I recommend it for lovers literature - the casual or light reader wouldn't appreciate it for its beautiful prose. They'd be looking for something that just isn't there, and isn't needed."