The Signature of All Things (High/Low) - Softcover

Unlike anything else she has ever written ... Its prose has the elegant sheen of a 19th-century epic, but its concerns - the intersection of science and faith, the feminine struggle for fulfilment - are especially modern -- Steve Almond * International Herald Tribune * The story of Alma Whittaker's journey of discovery has irresistible momentum -- Helen Dunmore * The Times * Ms Gilbert has established herself as a straight-up storyteller who dares us into adventures of worldly discovery, and this novel stands as a winning next act ... A bracing homage to the many natures of genius and the inevitable progress of ideas, in a world that reveals its best truths to the uncommonly patient minds -- Barbara Kingsolver * International Herald Tribune * Charming and compelling ... A big novel in all senses - extensively researched, compellingly readable and with a powerful charm that will surely propel it towards the bestseller lists * Daily Telegraph * Gilbert has written the novel of a lifetime * O, The Oprah Magazine * Riveting -- Eithne Farry * Marie Claire * Sumptuous ... Gilbert's prose is by turns flinty, funny, and incandescent * New Yorker * Quite simply one of the best novels I have read in years ... a bejewelled, dazzling novel -- Elizabeth Day * Observer * Readers prepared to enter Gilbert Time will be rewarded: she is an unflaggingly curious writer, prone to delightful touches ... Gilbert's period interests seem boundless - she explores everything from self-sacrifice, to homosexuality, Darwinism and Victorian pornography ... This is a novel to be chewed over, slowly -- Lucy Atkins * Sunday Times * A botanical odyssey through the nineteenth century, global in ambition, revelling in the period's insatiable curiosity about the world ... a tall tale, told with verve and wit * Guardian * Filled with dazzling storytelling -- Susie Boyt * Financial Times * The book's locales are captured in glittering portraits ... Breathtaking ... The Signature of All Things is a bracing homage to the many natures of genius and the inevitable progress of ideas, in a world that reveals its best truths to the uncommonly patient minds -- Barbara Kingsolver * International Herald Tribune * A charming and compelling fictional journey of self-discovery ... This is a big novel in all senses - extensively researched, compellingly readable and with a powerful charm that will surely propel it towards the bestseller lists -- Jane Shilling * Daily Telegraph * Viscerally written -- Eleanor Mills * Sunday Times * Gilbert writes superbly well -- Wendy Holden * Daily mail * An intricate, beautifully written historical novel ... A passionate paean to the 19th-century women of science who strove for achievement against the odds -- Anita Sethi * Metro * Gilbert's observations, of both characters and locations, make this an unexpected joy and in Alma she has created a truly unforgettable heroine -- Anita Chaudhuri * Irish Examiner *