ENLIGHTENMENT

Astronomy and a 19th-century mystery drive the plot in a novel whose deeper subject is the struggle for faith and love.

Thomas Hart, a 50-year-old columnist for the Essex Chronicle in the small English town of Aldleigh, makes furtive trips to London for gay trysts, even though he belongs to a Strict and Particular Baptist sect that tells him “his nature was an affront to God.” He might have quit years ago but for his devotion since the moment she was born to Grace Macaulay, “a love he’d never sought, and could not explain.” As Perry’s novel begins in 1997, 17-year-old Grace also finds herself torn between her religion and her desires when she falls in love with Nathan, a local boy not a member of her church. Meanwhile, Thomas becomes intrigued by some letters found during the renovation of decrepit Lowlands House—and by James Bower, the handsome museum employee who calls them to his attention. The letters were written by Maria Văduva, who lived at Lowlands but vanished mysteriously sometime around 1887. An assignment to write about the Hale-Bopp comet passing overhead leads Thomas to figure out that Maria was an astronomer who may have made an important discovery, and Grace’s chance encounter with an enigmatic homeless man supplies an important missing piece of Maria’s puzzle. As they pursue a series of expertly dropped clues about Maria’s intent and ultimate fate, Thomas betrays Grace’s trust in a way that may destroy their friendship. Perry seamlessly blends an absorbing mystery with her principal characters’ personal conflicts to create a narrative as propulsive as it is emotionally resonant. Swiftly sketched but fully realized secondary characters give the novel a social texture more commonly found in Victorian literature, an impression bolstered by Perry’s intricately layered prose. Much of the story is sad, but a radiant finale suggests reconciliation and renewal.

Thoughtful, sensitive, and beautifully written.