The Signature of All Things

A Novel

By: Elizabeth Gilbert

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

Length: 21 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

A glorious, sweeping novel of desire, ambition, and the thirst for knowledge, from the number-one New York Times best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love and Committed

In The Signature of All Things, Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction, inserting her inimitable voice into an enthralling story of love, adventure, and discovery. Spanning much of the 18th and 19th centuries, the novel follows the fortunes of the extraordinary Whittaker family as led by the enterprising Henry Whittaker - a poor-born Englishman who makes a great fortune in the South American quinine trade, eventually becoming the richest man in Philadelphia.

Born in 1800, Henry's brilliant daughter, Alma (who inherits both her father's money and his mind), ultimately becomes a botanist of considerable gifts herself. As Alma's research takes her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, she falls in love with a man named Ambrose Pike who makes incomparable paintings of orchids and who draws her in the exact opposite direction - into the realm of the spiritual, the divine, and the magical. Alma is a clear-minded scientist; Ambrose a utopian artist - but what unites this unlikely couple is a desperate need to understand the workings of this world and the mechanisms behind all life.

Exquisitely researched and told at a galloping pace, The Signature of All Things soars across the globe - from London to Peru to Philadelphia to Tahiti to Amsterdam, and beyond. Along the way, the story is peopled with unforgettable characters: missionaries, abolitionists, adventurers, astronomers, sea captains, geniuses, and the quite mad. But most memorable of all, it is the story of Alma Whittaker, who - born in the Age of Enlightenment, but living well into the Industrial Revolution - bears witness to that extraordinary moment in human history when all the old assumptions about science, religion, commerce, and class were exploding into dangerous new ideas. Written in the bold, questing spirit of that singular time, Gilbert's wise, deep, and spellbinding tale is certain to capture the hearts and minds of listeners.

©2013 Elizabeth Gilbert (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Gilbert's triumphant return to fiction is matched by Juliet Stevenson's lyrical reading. Both author and narrator capture the listener from the novel's opening words.” (AudioFile)

"A rip-roaring tale...unlike anything Gilbert has ever written.... Its prose has the elegant sheen of a nineteenth-century epic, but its concerns...are essentially modern." (The New York Times Magazine)

"With this novel about a young, nineteenth-century Philadelphia woman who becomes a world-renowned botanist, Gilbert shows herself to be a writer at the height of her powers." (O, The Oprah Magazine, "Our Favorite Reads of the Year")

"The most ambitious and purely imaginative work in Gilbert’s 20-year career: a deeply researched and vividly rendered historical novel about a 19th century female botanist.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Science in it's weirder corners

I did love this book. It's about a woman naturalist at the turn of the 18th century. She's brilliant, spoiled, unlovely and heart wrenchingly brave. It's the heart of darkness for women, done brilliantly.
Do read it. Astonishing.

A delightful trip into Life, History and Botany

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was long but I became more engrossed with each new chapter. It contains everything I enjoy listening to:
* Interesting and vivid characters
* Unexpected plot twists
* A background grounded in reality

The narrator has done a masterful job with the many accents -- British, Dutch, French, American, and Tahitian -- and the many ages and character types. This is a very rich book.

I confess to reading it under protest. I did not like Gilbert's "Eat , Pray, Love" . I am glad I was persuaded. This book is fascinating.

One of my favorite books

I've read this book twice and now, a few years later, thoroughly enjoyed this audio version. The reader was perfect. After my first reading of the book itself, I purchased a copy for two friends. I'm 72 years old and have enjoyed a lifetime of reading., and I surely hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

A complete circle....push thru

This is a long book, I thought at one point too long. But it is actually just right. I thought it was dragging in the middle, taking strange, very unexpected turns. But when you arrive at the end it turns out to be just right. A story of a life, and it flows in just the same ebb and flow as a life. Very much recommend it.

Most satisfying book I've read in ages

I loved this audiobook on every level. Story, character, historical sweep, plot and theme. LOVED IT. I will miss the characters greatly and I'm sad it's over. Liz Gilbert's research was evident as were her many years as a deep reader of quality literature. TSOAT is every bit as good as many classics of 19th century American or British literature that I've enjoyed over the years. It has been a LONG TIME since I've read a novel with so many vividly portrayed, memorable and consistent characters. Juliet Stevenson's interpretation and voice changes for each character were easily understood. Excellent, excellent, excellent!

A lovely tragic book

This book is amazing. As a lover of botany and nature, I knew I would love this book. I learned a lot, and loved Gilbert’s lovely prose. I will say that the book is quite tragic. Each character explores their own faults and challenges and you will feel their feelings. I couldn’t put this book down (so to speak, as it’s an audiobook) but wow it was hard to keep going at points.

Long but Brilliant

I recommend this story of a woman's journey from scientific detail to the experience of passions, intellectual and physical. Fascinating. The reading is exquiste.

I love Elizabeth Gilbert in so many ways but....

Elizabeth Gilbert is a very good writer and she has good stories. That having been said, the woman needs a better editor. This book was fascinating in many ways. It is the story of Alma Whittaker, an uncommonly bright but none too attractive 17th century woman who can never quite get her footing in life. Joy eludes her way too many times although she does manage to find some happiness at some point in her life.

This book explores a lot of topics but not in a very cohesive way. We go from anger at the gentry to the natural history of mosses, to the pained relationship between sisters to natural selection with a little of everything else in between. By the time I finished the book, I couldn't really figure out what Gilbert was driving at. This could easily have been a trilogy and might have worked better that way.

I will keep loving Elizabeth Gilbert and keep hoping she finds an editor who can help her harness her writing so that she produces something really powerful. At this point all the power in her writing is diluted by the tedium of overly long descriptions and overly detailed background setting. Maybe next time.

Great details

This author does a remarkable job at finishing every detail to every piece of the story. I'm left speechless yet fulfilled.

I opened cover and fell deeper into life.

Where does The Signature of All Things rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Conjoined author and narrator, best!

What other book might you compare The Signature of All Things to and why?

The City and the City by China Mieville and narrator John Lee. Different characteristic spirit of a cultural era and community pertaining to its abstract situation , yet vivid and poetic in the experience, the reader or listeners are consumed. These books are classic audio books, though different genres.

What about Juliet Stevenson’s performance did you like?

Who let the Doves out? Hypnotic embodiment of authors emotional power, and vividness of the earnest intent of the narrative's various impacts. Where does nature come up with such joyous artistic hand holding. Like to children smiling as they swing in tandem , feet touching the sun.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I'm a 70 year old man whose memory is best to embrace the work in its totality as a work about the gift of life with all its struggles , leaps, loss , wonder and joy. I giggle also at what's behind the veil that nagging mystery?

Any additional comments?

Art like this makes you wish you could live two lives so as to appreciate what you weren't prescient about!