ENLIGHTENMENT

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024 A story of love and astronomy told over the course of twenty years through the lives of two improbable best friends Gorgeous Ethereal GUARDIAN A book with cosmic reach FINANCIAL TIMES A romance worthy of Emily Brontë WALL STREET JOURNAL A genre bending novel of ideas TELEGRAPH Sarah Perry just gets better and better INDEPENDENT Thomas and Grace are fellow worshippers at the Baptist chapel in the small Essex town of Aldleigh Though separated in age by three decades the pair are kindred spirits torn between their commitment to religion and their desire for more But their friendship is threatened by the arrival of love Thomas falls for James Bower who runs the local museum Together they develop an obsession with the vanished nineteenth century female astronomer Maria Veduva said to haunt a nearby manor Inspired by Maria and the dawning realisation James may not reciprocate his feelings Thomas finds solace studying the night skies Could astronomy offer as much wonder as divine or earthly love Meanwhile Grace meets Nathan a fellow sixth former who represents a different wilder kind of life They are drawn passionately together but quickly pulled apart casting Grace into the wider world and far away fro