Elizabeth Gilbert

The best-selling author of Eat, Pray, Love traces the multi-generational saga of the Whittaker family, whose progenitor makes a fortune in the quinine trade before his daughter, a gifted botanist, researches the mysteries of evolution while falling in love with an utopian artist against a backdrop of the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.

The Signature of All Things

Allison Dempsey

I can’t remember the last time I read a 500 page book in so few days. I never expected a book about a 19th century female botanist to be the epic journey that it was. Left me with lots to think about. Plus Elizabeth Gilbert’s vocabulary is unparalleled.

A glorious, sweeping novel of desire, ambition, and the thirst for knowledge, from the # 1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love, Big Magic, and City of Girls 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 eighteenth and nineteenth 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 readers.

A Novel

Skye Sherman

Just the right combination of travelogue, novel, and 19th-century historical fiction.

Amy Deuink

Bibi Bayjikova

I loved the way this story allows you to travel to different places

Judy Hudgins

After reading Eat, Pray, Love which I adored, I wasn't sure what to expect on a work of fiction by Ms. Gilbert. And actually it is another book on a journey of discovery about herself.
Alma Whittacker has grown up in a privileged life style, but with more education that most men in the early 1880's. Her father had made his fortune in the botanical trade and Alma was carrying on her own studies.

It's a long read, setting up Alma's life and where her parents had come from in order to see where Alma is going with her life. Large boned, with a face like her father's and smart to boot, Alma is far from the customary female of her day.

Well, worth a read, but interesting that it is another 'journey' by Ms. Gilbert.

Elad Schulman

This is my mom’s favorite book (and favorite author) so I felt like I had a duty to read this book. 

The writing was absolutely beautiful - the story doesn’t have any crazy plot points, but you continue reading because of the way Gilbert tells her story.

Anyaconda

Elizabeth Gilbert could write about dumpster fires and it would sound incredible. However a good book also needs a good story/plot. This started out amazing and turned dull and boring.
I loved reading about Henry in the beginning and his story, even Alma's story in the beginning was fascinating and engaging, but after 50% things fell through.
Why do this to Retta? Why Ambrose and his weird "Angel talk"? Why the constant talk about Alma's "quim"? The poor character will die of sexual frustration. I stopped reading at 60%. I couldn't bring myself to continue.

Dakota Gigout

This was a fast paced, thought provoking 500 pages that managed to span over 100 years! I am so incredibly impressed by how well researched this book is! The plant properties, the historical data, the relationships between people. Nothing is done only halfway. This is my first Gilbert book and I am thoroughly impressed!! 

I did get a little anxious to finish by the last hundred pages but really did enjoy the story (with its many emotional ups and downs)

My ranking was lowered to only 4 stars because of few trigger points that I didn’t feel added to the storyline:

First, was a LOT of sexual tension from Alma and I do not understand her obsession with putting a man in her mouth. This wasn’t a steamy book by any chance and the randomness of sexual tension felt thrown in and cringe. 

Second, this is a very accurate to the times book. That being said, the N word is thrown around casually. While Alma spends a lot of time trying to understand plants and human nature, therefore, exploring sexuality (homo and hetero) in spite of the outside world’s judgement, for the first 350 pages the Whittakers cast judgment on abolitionists. Even when the judgement stops, there is no exploration for why slavery is so inherently wrong. Alma, who wishes to understand everything, never broached that subject mentally, rather focusing on her sister’s selflessness. Kinda infuriating for the reader. 

500 pages was relatively short for the mammoth of subjects collected in Signature of All Things. It was an interesting and faced paced read. It is historical fiction, although I don’t agree with some of the accuracy and lack of exploration of those topics was disappointing.

Les Reynolds

An enthralling book. Wasn't a fan of the sexual content.

Janet Doré

I fell in love with Elizabeth Gilbert when I read Eat, Pray, Love many years ago—I can't believe I haven't read anything by her since! She did NOT disappoint with The Signature of All Things. 

This book checks all my boxes—history, science, strong women, amazing character development, and a little spice. Whenever I thought I knew where the story was going, it pleasantly surprised me with a gentle and realistic twist. I was constantly reminded how the stories we tell ourselves can be SO wrong. 

I'm going to miss Alma.

Michael Hessling

Ah, so wonderful. Loved that everything wrapped up so nicely, too.

Heini Ruuskanen 

Traces the multi-generational saga of the Whittaker family, whose progenitor makes a fortune in the quinine trade before his daughter, a gifted botanist, researches the mysteries of evolution while falling in love with an artist.

Stacey 

Traces the multi-generational saga of the Whittaker family, whose progenitor makes a fortune in the quinine trade before his daughter, a gifted botanist, researches the mysteries of evolution while falling in love with an artist

Gigi V

Sonia Grgas

Darcy Lambert

Francine Corry

Deepika Ramesh

Lisa

A glorious, sweeping novel of desire, ambition and the thirst for knowledge-from the # 1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love

The Signature of All Things

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