The Luminist

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, The Luminist 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.

About the Author :
Anthony McCarten's debut novel, Spinners, won international acclaim, and was followed by The English Harem, the award-winning Death of a Superhero, and Show of Hands. The four books have been translated into fourteen languages. McCarten has also written twelve stage plays, including the worldwide success Ladies' Night, which won France's Molière Prize and the Meilleure Pièce Comique in 2001. Also a film-maker, he has thrice adapted his own plays or novels into feature films, most recently Death of a Superhero (2011), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Anthony divides his time between London and Los Angeles.

Review :
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. (Oct.) Publishers Weekly Rocklin reveals another aspect of the Victorian era and causes readers to question how hard they would fight to remain true to themselves. Although the ending feels rushed in spots, the book is otherwise well paced and compelling. It is often stark--fitting for the time and setting--yet his occasionally vivid descriptions spotlight powerful moments. Danger boils under the surface throughout, ready to explode. The Luminist 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. (Oct) ForeWord 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 Cutting For Stone and Andrea Barrett's fiction, from Ship Fever to Servants of the Map, owes its density and savor to the botanic and historiographic facts that beguile her. David Rocklin's The Luminist, 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. --FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY JACQUELYN MITCHARD, author of No Time to Wave Goodbye and The Deep End of the Ocean 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 Haunting Jasmine THE LUMINIST 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 Apocalypse Tonight NOT SINCE TINKERS have I read a book which, in its sheer beauty and mystery, has carried me off the way The Luminist 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 Deadwood Beetle 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. The Luminist is a gorgeous evocation of era, place, and human passion. --AIMEE LIU, author of Flash House and Cloud Mountain 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 Shadow and Light and The Second Son