Immerse yourself in a story of love and astronomy across two centuries – from the #1 bestselling author of The Essex Serpent.

‘Gorgeous?ethereal’ GUARDIAN
‘Truth, beauty and love?extraordinary’ OBSERVER
‘A book with cosmic reach’ FINANCIAL TIMES
‘You’ll get lost in the pages’ ELLE

Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay have lived all their lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits – torn between their religion and their desire to explore the world. But their friendship is ruptured by the arrival of love.

Over the course of twenty years, Thomas and Grace will find their lives brought back into orbit as a devastating story of passion and scientific adventure unfolds and Aldleigh’s unique mysteries are revealed.

‘The heavens, comets, faith, ghosts, love? This is a book of deep pleasures’
BOOKER JUDGES, 2024

‘Sarah Perry just gets better and better’
INDEPENDENT

‘A romance worthy of Emily Brontë’
WALL STREET JOURNAL

‘One of contemporary fiction’s brightest stars’
GLAMOUR

*A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE GUARDIAN, DAILY TELEGRAPH AND DAILY MAIL*

‘Glorious’ OBSERVER
‘Extraordinary’ SARAH HALL
‘Resplendent’ i news
‘Richly layered’ TELEGRAPH
‘Full of unexpected wonders’ LITERARY REVIEW
‘Beautifully nuanced’ SUSAN STOKES-CHAPMAN
‘Gorgeous’ GUARDIAN

Thomas Hart and Grace Macauley are fellow worshippers at the Bethesda Baptist chapel in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits – torn between their commitment to religion and their desire for more. But their friendship is threatened by the arrival of love.

Thomas falls for James Bower, who runs the local museum. Together they develop an obsession with the vanished nineteenth-century female astronomer Maria Veduva, said to haunt a nearby manor. Inspired by Maria, and the dawning realisation James may not reciprocate his feelings, Thomas finds solace studying the night skies. Could astronomy offer as much wonder as divine or earthly love?

Meanwhile Grace meets Nathan, a fellow sixth former who represents a different, wilder kind of life. They are drawn passionately together, but quickly pulled apart, casting Grace into the wider world and far away from Thomas.

In time, the mysteries of Aldleigh are revealed, bringing Thomas and Grace back to each other and to a richer understanding of love, of the nature of the world, and the sheer miracle of being alive.

‘Like Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries and AS Byatt’s Possession, [Enlightenment] is a baroque, genre-bending novel of ideas, ghosts, and hidden histories.’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH