本書奪得2013年曼布克獎！
 　　十二位男人，一樁神秘的凶殺案，
　　嚴謹縝密的敘述手法，環環相扣的故事情節，使這本小說一舉奪得今年曼布克獎，也讓廿八歲的Catton成為史上最年輕獲獎者！
　　故事背景設定在十九世紀中期，那是個充滿淘金夢的時代，作者成功營造當時人們殷切投入的渴望，主角Walter Moody長途跋涉，滿懷希望踏上紐西蘭土地，打算在此一攫千金。不料抵達的第一晚風狂雨驟，暗示著悲劇的序幕。當他打算入住旅館之際，無意間經過抽菸室，卻恰巧目睹世上最詭異的畫面：十二位衣裝及氣質截然不同的男人聚在一起，臉色凝重討論著一樁離奇凶殺案。
　　原來島上的富翁失蹤了，而一名妓女遭到凌虐，警方更從一名醉漢家中搜出大筆黃金，這樁不尋常的案件引起了Walter高度好奇心，更讓他決定要找出真相。但首要之急，他必須先想辦法釐清眼前十二位男人的關係。
　　本書過人之處在於，作者以天文星象原理安排劇情走向。緊密的人物關係，彷彿天上繁星，排列看似不規律，實則遵循軌跡運行，而關鍵的十二位男人，與十二星座緊密相扣，並透過他們各別的聲音，漸漸拼湊出完整真相。
　　一場人性的鬥爭遊戲，即將華麗揭開序幕…….（文/博客來編譯）

The bestselling, Man Booker Prize-winning novel hailed as "a true achievement. Catton has built a lively parody of a 19th-century novel, and in so doing created a novel for the 21st, something utterly new. The pages fly."--New York Times Book ReviewIt is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to stake his claim in New Zealand''s booming gold rush. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of 12 local men who have met in secret to discuss a series of unexplained events: a wealthy man has vanished, a prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous cache of gold has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely ornate as the night sky. Richly evoking a mid-nineteenth-century world of shipping, banking, and gold rush boom and bust, THE LUMINARIES is at once a fiendishly clever ghost story, a gripping page-turner, and a thrilling novelistic achievement. It richly confirms that Eleanor Catton is one of the brightest stars in the international literary firmament.
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Eleanor Catton was awarded the 2013 Man Booker Prize for The Luminaries. Her first novel, The Rehearsal, won the 2009 Betty Trask Award and the Adam Prize in Creative Writing, and was long-listed for the Orange Prize and short-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and an MA in fiction writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters. Born in Canada, Catton was raised in New Zealand, where she now lives.
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