{"product_id":"enlightenment","title":"Enlightenment","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e**LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2024**\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA story of love and astronomy told over the course of twenty years through the lives of two improbable best friends\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Gorgeous... Ethereal'\u003c\/b\u003e GUARDIAN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A book with cosmic reach'\u003c\/b\u003e FINANCIAL TIMES\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A romance worthy of Emily Bronte'\u003c\/b\u003e WALL STREET JOURNAL\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A genre-bending novel of ideas'\u003c\/b\u003e TELEGRAPH\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Sarah Perry just gets better and better'\u003c\/b\u003e INDEPENDENT\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThomas 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThomas 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?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMeanwhile 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 from Thomas.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn time, the mysteries of Aldleigh are revealed, bringing Thomas and Grace back to each other and to a richer understanding of love, of the nature of the world, and the sheer miracle of being alive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e*A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE \u003ci\u003eGUARDIAN\u003c\/i\u003e*\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atticus Bookshop Gallery","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47416967823609,"sku":"9781787335004","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0781\/4535\/6025\/files\/9879083482824.jpg?v=1771024497","url":"https:\/\/www.atticusbooksandart.com.au\/products\/enlightenment","provider":"Atticus Bookshop Gallery","version":"1.0","type":"link"}