The Signature of All Things

暢銷小說《享受吧！一個人的旅行》作者伊莉莎白．吉兒伯特最新力作！
故事橫跨18到19世紀，以愛及探索為主題，將再次感動全世界！

　　故事以18世紀為歷史背景，白手起家的英國家庭，最後在美國落腳生根，成為當地富豪。家中的小女兒艾瑪和父親一樣擁有大無畏的勇氣，對植物學充滿熱情，最終成為植物學家，但命運卻讓她愛上與其個性截然不同的藝術家男人。看似不同世界的兩人，卻同樣對生命充滿著熱情，並且學著探索世界的奧妙。

　　為了將這本小說鉅作發揮至極致，作者可說是作足了歷史功課，從啟蒙時代到工業革命，這個堪稱歷史上最燦爛的世紀，不論是政治、文化及宗教都面臨極大的衝擊，當理性的女主角遇見感性的男主角，即使生在動盪不安的年代，依舊對於生命懷抱熱忱，激勵出生命最動人的火花！（文／博客來編譯）

　　5 January 1800.

　　At the beginning of a new century, Alma Whittaker is born into a perfect Philadelphia winter. Her father, Henry Whittaker, is a bold and charismatic botanical explorer whose vast fortune belies his lowly beginnings as a vagrant in Sir Joseph Banks's Kew Gardens and as a deck hand on Captain Cook's HMS Resolution. Alma's mother, a strict woman from an esteemed Dutch family, has a knowledge of botany equal to any man's.

　　It is not long before Alma, an independent girl with a thirst for knowledge, comes into her own within the world of plants and science. But as her careful studies of moss take her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, the man she comes to love draws her in the opposite direction – into the realm of the spiritual, the divine and the magical. She is a clear-minded scientist; he is a Utopian artist. But what unites this couple is a shared passion for knowing – a desperate desire to understand the workings of this world and the mechanisms behind all of life.

　　The Signature of All Things is a big novel, about a big century. It soars across the globe from London, to Peru, to Philadelphia, to Tahiti, to Amsterdam. Peopled with extraordinary characters – missionaries, abolitionists, adventurers, astronomers, sea captains, geniuses and the quite mad –above all it has an unforgettable heroine in Alma Whittaker, a woman of the Enlightened Age who stands defiantly on the cusp of the modern.

作者簡介

伊莉莎白．吉兒伯特（Elizabeth Gilbert）

　　具備小說家與新聞記者的身份，兩度獲得National Magazine Award深度報導獎，作品The Last American Man入選美國國家圖書獎決審名單與2002年紐約時報年度好書，故事集Pilgrims獲Paris Review最佳新人小說等獎項。曾為知名雜誌GQ、Bazaar、The New York Times Magazine撰稿，小說作品曾於Esquire、Story、Paris Review刊載。《斷背山》作者安妮．普露譽其為：「一個閃閃發亮的作家」。

　　Elizabeth Gilbert is the acclaimed author of five books of fiction and non-fiction. She is most well known for her 2006 bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, which has sold over ten million copies worldwide and was made into a film starring Julia Roberts. Her short story collection Pilgrims was nominated for the PEN/Hemingway Award, her novel Stern Men was a New York Times Notable Book and The Last American Man was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her most recent work, Committed, was a Number One New York Times bestseller. Elizabeth Gilbert lives in New Jersey.