The Signature of All Things

I am thrilled with any historical fiction that offers another perspective on what popular culture believes to be true. In this case, a man (Darwin) was the only one to posit the theory of evolution. This book explores the life of a brilliant woman who longed to be a scientist in the 18th and 19th centuries. Despite all misogynistic odds, she followed her dream. 

Despite having read this book a decade ago, I can easily recall the scenery, the time frame, and the incredibly luscious botanical-steeped life of the main character, Alma Whittaker, who took me with her to London,… show more.

I’d never have guessed I’d be so beguiled by a book about moss. Or, more precisely, about Alma Whittaker, a bryologist observing moss.

I enjoyed this book's ‘differentness’. It’s an episodic story, unusually structured, with various life-like trailings-off of plotlines, characters, and marriage, but no less gripping for that.

Researching natural sciences in the nineteenth century is skilfully described, but it’s Alma who lingers in the mind. Its sentences, I thought, are beautiful too.

I fell in love with The Signature of All Things because it whisked me away on an enchanting journey through the pages of history and the depths of the human spirit. At its core, this novel is a vivid tapestry of the Whittaker family's saga, and their remarkable lives during the 18th to the 19th centuries.

Henry Whittaker, a poor-born Englishman turned quinine trade magnate, became a symbol of relentless determination and ambition. His brilliance and tenacity laid the foundation for a family legacy that would shape the world in profound ways. And then there's Alma, his brilliant daughter, who… show more.

A bildungsroman for women.

Until I read this book, I hadn’t read a coming-of-age story that focused on womanhood (it would be a few more years until I read Jane Eyre). I don’t think I realized all of the nuanced experiences that reading books about boys becoming men obviously couldn’t explore.

This book was like a lightning strike through my soul, and reading about a woman growing up and trying to make a name for herself in a male-oriented field (science), really exposed all of the invisible barriers women face.

She is raised with every opportunity, and yet barred from… show more.

As well said on the back cover of this novel, “Love, adventure, and discovery are at the heart of this bestseller”. Alma Whittaker, a relentless, rational woman, draws us into the world of discoveries, in the 1800s, and her incredible journey of inner transformation, surrounded by family affairs, friendships, science, poetic writing, spiritual growth, and love. I personally connected with Alma Whittaker because she is not only a woman of science – a botanist and taxonomist, but above all, she is a noble thinker, a philosopher, a woman with desires and driven purposes, who refuses to be entrapped by the… show more.

In this epic story spanning multiple locations and the 18th and 19th centuries, we follow Alma Whittaker, heiress and lover of moss, whose quick wit and adventuring spirit make her a wonderful heroine. But it’s also the finely observed settings of this novel that make it a story to fully inhabit and read compulsively. It’s a book to travel through as we inhabit Philadelphia, Tahiti, London, and Peru, seeing everything in vivid detail through Alma’s eyes.

Although not a huge fan of Gilbert’s bestselling book Eat, Pray and Love, I found myself mesmerized by her stunning historical novel, The Signature of All Things. Although fiction, Gilbert immerses the reader into the 18th and 19th century transformational time around scientific discoveries, through the Whittakers, a prominent Philadelphia family of botanists. Her portrayal of Alma, the brilliant daughter who inherits both her father’s money and brains, and becomes a botanist of considerable gifts herself illustrates the challenges facing women scientists in the era. Old assumptions about science, religion, commerce, and class and how this impacts… show more.