The Signature of All Things

A Novel

By: Elizabeth Gilbert

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

A glorious, sweeping novel of desire, ambition, and the thirst for knowledge, from the #1 New York Times bestselling 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 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.

Critic reviews

"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 twenty-year career." —The Wall Street Journal

"Like Victor Hugo or Emile Zola, Gilbert captures something important about the wider world in The Signature of All Things: a pivotal moment in history when progress defined us in concrete ways." —The Washington Post

"A masterly tale of overflowing sensual and scientific enthusiasms in the nineteenth century." —Time, "Top Ten Fiction Books of the Year"

"Raucously ingenious... a novel of brave and lovely ideas... I found unshackled joy on every page." —The Chicago Tribune

"Alma's extraordinary life unspools like a Jane Austen novel... Here Gilbert claims her rightful spot as one of the twenty-first century's best American writers." —Outside

"Gilbert writes so wonderfully it's impossible not to swoon... Alma's drive for personal epiphany feels absolutely contemporary." —The Boston Globe

"A beautifully written, grandly expansive historical novel... Gilbert's writing is so smart and richly drawn that it does what all the best books do: it sweeps you up." —Entertainment Weekly

"Dazzling... a big-hearted, sweeping, unforgettable novel... If you don't think science or historical fiction can be bright, funny, and engaging, this novel will quickly prove you wrong." —The Miami Herald

Great performance and so-so story

I love Juliet Stevenson as a performer and normally try to listen to everything she is reading. Saying all that, I had my reservations about this book (due to author who I don't normally like) but purchased it only because of the performer. I was pleasantly surprised in the beginning. The story was developing really well and the first part was down right enjoyable. It went down hill after that. The story is weak, characters are not developed, in short, a disappointment. Only because I love Juliet Stevenson, I will finish the story. Otherwise, I would not bother.

Half way through and loving it!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I listen to this book at work and can't wait for Monday morning! The detail really makes the story come together. An educational, insightful story that has my full attention.

An Old-Timey, Swashbuckling, Epic Adventure Tale

This audiobook should come with a disclaimer: “While listening to The Signature of All Things, you will receive many unsolicited comments about people’s feelings re: Eat, Pray, Love."

I haven’t read Eat, Pray, Love, but let me tell you all about the enormous lady crush I have on The Signature of All Things. It’s an old-timey, swashbuckling, epic adventure tale that follows the fortunes of Alma Whittaker, a girl born to a self-made botanical entrepreneur during the Age of Enlightenment. And where many stories would shower all their attention on the heroine’s young courtships, Gilbert speeds right past that part to show us a single Alma in her forties and fifties, still learning, growing, studying, traveling, and living an all-around full and fascinating life surrounded by crazed scientists, explorers, missionaries, and geniuses. The supporting characters are all WONDERFUL, and I want to kiss Juliet Stevenson on the nose for her brilliant performance on the audiobook.

Read this if you’re in the mood for adventure, old-timey humor, and SECRETS in the vein of The Goldfinch or David Copperfield

A totally satisfying listen

Would you consider the audio edition of The Signature of All Things to be better than the print version?

Juliet Stevenson struck just the right note in dramatically interpreting the various voices and accents in this book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Alma Whittaker represents the yearnings and strivings of women who, for reasons of birth or situations of life beyond their control, cannot fill the customary feminine roles of their time, and yet live full and satisfying lives.

What does Juliet Stevenson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Juliet Stevenson's voice is mesmerizing. I would not have been able to imagine the lines of the book and the feelings behind the words as truly as she did.

If you could take any character from The Signature of All Things out to dinner, who would it be and why?

It would be Charles Darwin, in order to know whether he had any idea of the influence of his theories on human history.

Any additional comments?

With this book, Elizabeth Gilbert has surely proven that she cannot be defined as an author of a one-off chick lit book.

Simply Magnificent!

Sometimes a historical fiction novel so dazzles a reader that a brief review does not do it justice. Such is the case with The Signature of All Things, but here goes . . .

This book captivating me for myriad reasons: the writing is beautiful - more like poetry than prose; the story is profound, complex, elaborate and spellbinding, in a quiet, sneaks-up-on-you way and the characters are beyond memorable - they wend their way into one's heart and mind. I don't recall a book that I've read in the past 10 years that made me cry for sadness for its characters.

The research that surely went into writing this book is hard to comprehend. It is detailed in its descriptions of those things botanical included in it (and these are numerous), yet never tedious or boring.

I apologize to Ms. Gilbert, whose book, Eat, Pray, Love I read and enjoyed. However, it never occurred to me that she was a writer of such magnitude to produce this remarkable piece of fiction.

The narration by Juliet Stevenson is perfect! She is beyond gifted in her ability to breathe life into Gilbert's characters.

This is a book of beauty, that unfolds slowly and elegantly, then keeps the reader in its clutches in a completely enchanting way. It is not a read for everyone, to be sure, but was a great treasure for me.