{"product_id":"the-luminist-isbn-9780979018879","title":"The Luminist","description":"In colonial India, at a time of growing friction between the ruling British and the restless Indian populace, a Victorian woman and her young Tamil Indian servant defy convention, class, and heartbreak to investigate what is gained—and lost—by holding life still. Suggested by the life and work of photographic pioneer Julia Margaret Cameron, \u003ci\u003eThe Luminist\u003c\/i\u003e filters 19th century Ceylon through the lens of an English woman, Catherine Colebrook and a 15 year old Tamil boy, Eligius Shourie. Left fatherless by soldiers, Eligius is brought as a servant to the Colebrooks' neglected estate. In the shadow of Catherine's obsession to arrest beauty—to select a moment from the thousands comprising her life in Ceylon and hold it apart from mere memory—Eligius transforms into her apprentice in the creation of the first haunting photographs in history.\"Rocklin manages to do what . . . the American novel does best: refract the diffuse light of everyday existence into the concentrated radiance of art.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Faster Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A meaty literary historical novel, especially good for those who like fiction that tackles religion, loss, identity, motherhood, the creative urge, colonialism, conflict, love, inspiration . . . the list of themes could go on and on, but I’ll stop. This is a unique debut and I’m excited for Rocklin’s next offering.\" —\u003ci\u003eUnabridged Chick\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Hailed by Jacquelyn Mitchard as a novel that 'recalls Out of Africa', The Luminist uses its mix of dark and light to burn an image into our minds that is sure to remain.\" —\u003ci\u003eThe Write Place at the Write Time\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Rocklin’s narration illuminates without starkness; light is never far from shadow.\" —Pedro Ponce, \u003ci\u003eThe Los Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An absolute spellbinder. In Victorian-era Ceylon, amidst colonial strife and natural splendor, taboo love unfolds. Debut novelist Rocklin blends the love-and-war sweep of Dr. Zhivago with the Heart of Darkness depth of Joseph Conrad. History, art, celebratory feminism, rapturous writing and true suspense—this is a staggeringly good book.\" —\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Danger boils under the surface throughout, ready to explode. \u003ci\u003eThe Luminist\u003c\/i\u003e highlights a moment in history when the world is transforming and the very fabric of society is being stretched in unheard of ways. It serves as a snapshot as vivid as those Catherine tries to create, intended to cause people to see things in new ways.\" —\u003ci\u003eForeword Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ceylon of the 19th century is more than the setting for David Rocklin’s richly imagined and deeply moving novel. It is the central character, a world no less alienated and scarred than the people who inhabit it. That Rocklin chooses to capture the rawness of those lives through the nascent lens of photography is even more impressive, lending the novel a lyricism that comes as both a shock and a comfort.\" —Jonathan Rabb, author of \u003ci\u003eShadow and Light\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Second Son\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Rocklin’s debut novel . . . is beautifully written, especially the scenes where Eligius works with Catherine in her experiments . . . If Rocklin plays to his strengths, he will be a writer to watch.\" —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A literary feast of words and exquisite turns of phrase, The Luminist brings colonial 19th century Ceylon to life through the eyes of a Tamil boy named Eligius Shourie, a free-thinking servant who forms a bond with his employer, the ambitious British photographer Catherine Colebrook. Set against a tropical backdrop of simmering unrest, this elegantly constructed historical novel cast a quiet spell on me that gathered momentum right through to shocking final scenes of astonishing emotional power. This fascinating story made me want to run to the library and learn everything about the 19th century British photographer, Julia Margaret Cameron—on whom the character of Catherine Colebrook is loosely based—and the colorful history of Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka.\" —Anjali Banerjee, author of \u003ci\u003eHaunting Jasmine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Luminist\u003c\/i\u003e is a warm dazzle of a first novel—a profoundly human story of shadow and light fixed in the searing simplicity of David Rocklin’s diamond-bright prose.\" —Susan Taylor Chehak, author of \u003ci\u003eApocalypse Tonight\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Not since \u003ci\u003eTinkers\u003c\/i\u003e have I read a book which, in its sheer beauty and mystery, has carried me off the way \u003ci\u003eThe Luminist\u003c\/i\u003e has. Every sentence is a small miracle; every character glows with a complex elegance, as if seen by candlelight. David Rocklin’s lush rendering of raw, unstable, colonial Ceylon will be etched in my memory for a long, long time. Superb.\" —Mylène Dressler, author of The \u003ci\u003eDeadwood Beetle\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In this extraordinary debut, David Rocklin takes us to the heart of photography’s unlikely origins through language that shimmers like the art of light itself. As creative obsession fuses with political crisis in Colonial Ceylon, the result is one unforgettable story. \u003ci\u003eThe Luminist\u003c\/i\u003e is a gorgeous evocation of era, place, and human passion.\" —Aimee Liu, author of \u003ci\u003eFlash House and Cloud Mountain\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This book is one of those few in which an author’s specific sensibilities nourish the text, as Abraham Verghese’s multi-geographic heritage and his physician’s life inform \u003ci\u003eCutting For Stone\u003c\/i\u003e and Andrea Barrett’s fiction, from \u003ci\u003eShip Fever\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eServants of the Map\u003c\/i\u003e, owes its density and savor to the botanic and historiographic facts that beguile her. David Rocklin’s \u003ci\u003eThe Luminist\u003c\/i\u003e is a weave of legend and history, science and art, politics and domesticity that are symphonic themes in the main title, the story of an enduring and forbidden friendship.\" —Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of \u003ci\u003eNo Time to Wave Goodbye\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Deep End of the Ocean\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eDAVID ROCKLIN\u003c\/b\u003e grew up in Chicago. He graduated from Indiana University with a BA in Literature. After attending law school, he pursued a career as an in-house attorney and continues to serve as a mediator. He lives in California with his wife and children.","brand":"Hawthorne Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48532205797605,"sku":"NP9780979018879","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780979018879.jpg?v=1773183057","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-luminist-isbn-9780979018879","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}