The Signature of All Things

Bol Partner

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. 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.

Bol

The Signature of All Things embarks on a captivating journey through the vast expanses of science, spirituality, and human ambition. At its heart lies Alma Whittaker, a brilliant botanist with an insatiable curiosity for the natural world. From the lush gardens of her family estate to the uncharted territories of botanical exploration, Alma's quest for knowledge mirrors the intricacies of life itself. Spanning continents and centuries, the novel weaves together themes of evolution, love, and the pursuit of understanding. Through Alma's eyes, readers are transported into a world of discovery and transformation, where every leaf holds the promise of enlightenment.

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Pages: 592, Edition: 1, Paperback, Bloomsbury Publishing