Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

Oh, to be caught in the gravitational pull of prose! Sarah Perry’s latest novel, “Enlightenment,” is a luminous exploration of love, faith, and scientific pursuit that left me starry-eyed and thoroughly enchanted. Longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize (and rightly so), this book is a celestial masterpiece that will have you pondering the mysteries of the universe long after you’ve turned the final page.

Set in the small Essex town of Aldleigh, Enlightenment by Sarah Perry follows the intertwined orbits of two improbable friends: Thomas Hart, a middle-aged writer grappling with his sexuality and faith, and Grace Macaulay, a spirited young woman yearning to break free from the constraints of her Baptist upbringing. Their lives unfold over two decades, pulled by the tidal forces of love, loss, and scientific obsession.

Perry’s writing is nothing short of celestial—at times as precise and measured as the ticking of an astronomical clock, at others as wild and unfettered as a comet blazing across the night sky. She has a gift for illuminating the extraordinary within the ordinary, finding poetry in the mundane rhythms of small-town life. Reading Enlightenment by Sarah Perry feels like peering through a telescope at a distant galaxy, marveling at its vast beauty while simultaneously feeling achingly small.

A Constellation of Characters

At the heart of this literary solar system is Thomas Hart, a man forever caught between worlds. Perry renders him with exquisite complexity—his struggle to reconcile his faith with his sexuality, his passion for astronomy with his earthly desires. Thomas is a character you want to shake and embrace in equal measure, his self-imposed limitations both frustrating and heartbreakingly human.

Orbiting around Thomas is a cast of characters as vibrant and varied as the night sky. There’s Grace Macaulay, fierce and yearning, whose journey from sheltered Baptist girl to independent woman is a joy to behold. James Bower, the object of Thomas’s affection, shines with a quiet intensity that makes his gravitational pull on Thomas entirely believable. And then there’s Maria Văduva, the long-dead astronomer whose ghost haunts the edges of the narrative, her scientific discoveries a tantalizing mystery that drives much of the plot.

Perry has a knack for creating characters that feel startlingly real, their inner lives rendered with such clarity that you half expect to bump into them on the street. Even minor players are given depth and nuance, each one a fully realized world unto themselves.

Faith and Science: An Uneasy Alliance

One of the most fascinating aspects of Enlightenment by Sarah Perry is its exploration of the tension between faith and scientific inquiry. Perry doesn’t pit the two against each other in simplistic opposition, but instead examines how they can coexist, sometimes uneasily, within the same person.

Thomas’s relationship with his Baptist faith is particularly nuanced. His struggle to reconcile his sexuality with his religious upbringing is portrayed with sensitivity and depth. There’s a moment where he stands in Bethesda Chapel, torn between the comfort of familiar hymns and the pull of his own desires, that’s so achingly real it took my breath away.

The astronomical elements of the plot serve as a beautiful metaphor for this push and pull between earthly concerns and higher truths. The search for Maria Văduva’s lost comet becomes a quest for meaning that transcends the boundaries of faith and science. Perry’s descriptions of celestial phenomena are nothing short of poetic, infusing the cosmic with a sense of wonder that borders on the spiritual.

A Love Story Written in the Stars

At its core, Sarah Perry’s “Enlightenment” is a love story—or rather, several love stories woven together into a complex tapestry. There’s Thomas’s unrequited love for James, a slow-burn ache that spans decades. Grace’s passionate, ill-fated romance with Nathan crackles with the intensity of first love. And threading through it all is the ghost of Maria Văduva’s own mysterious love affair, echoing across the centuries.

Perry writes about love with a clear-eyed honesty that’s refreshing. She doesn’t shy away from its messiness, its capacity to wound as well as heal. There’s a scene where Grace, years after their separation, encounters Nathan again that’s so raw and true it made my heart clench. And Thomas’s longing for James is rendered with such aching tenderness that it’s impossible not to feel every pang of his unrequited desire.

But it’s not all heartache and longing. There are moments of joy and connection so pure they’ll make your soul sing. A shared look across a crowded room, a hand casually brushed against another—Perry finds magic in these small moments, elevating them to cosmic significance.

Time and Tide: The Ebb and Flow of Years

One of Perry’s greatest strengths is her ability to capture the passage of time. “Enlightenment” spans two decades, and you feel every year in the bones of the narrative. Characters age and change in ways both subtle and profound. The town of Aldleigh itself evolves, caught between tradition and modernity.

Perry employs a non-linear structure that mimics the erratic orbit of a comet, looping back and forth through time. It’s a risky choice that pays off beautifully, allowing her to draw unexpected connections and illuminate different facets of her characters’ lives. There’s a particularly effective sequence where we see the same event—a church fair—from multiple perspectives across different years. It’s a masterclass in how shifting viewpoints can deepen our understanding of a moment.

The way Perry captures the subtle shifts in her characters over time is nothing short of remarkable. Thomas at fifty is recognizably the same man we met at thirty, and yet profoundly changed. Grace’s evolution from sheltered girl to independent woman feels organic and earned. Even secondary characters age convincingly, their life experiences etched into the lines of their faces and the cadence of their speech.

A Sense of Place: Aldleigh, Essex

Aldleigh itself emerges as a character in its own right, a small town caught between the pull of tradition and the inexorable march of progress. Perry brings it to life with vivid, sensory detail—the musty smell of Bethesda Chapel, the play of light on the River Alder, the ever-present hum of gossip in the Jackdaw and Crow pub.

There’s a deep sense of history layered into every description. The weight of centuries past seems to press down on the town, ghosts of long-ago residents lingering in every corner. And yet, modernity creeps in at the edges—new housing developments, changing social mores, the slow death of old ways of life.

Perry’s Essex is a place of contradictions—deeply rooted in tradition, yet constantly evolving. It’s a microcosm of England itself, caught between nostalgia for a romanticized past and an uncertain future. The way Sarah Perry captures this tension gives “Enlightenment” a richness and depth that elevates it beyond mere period piece.

Echoes of the Past: Perry’s Literary Lineage

While “Enlightenment” is very much its own unique creation, it’s impossible not to hear echoes of other great works of English literature. There’s a touch of George Eliot in Perry’s keen observations of small-town life and her interest in the intersection of faith and modernity. The way she writes about the natural world calls to mind the Brontës at their most lyrical.

Fans of Perry’s previous work will find much to love here. Like “The Essex Serpent” and “Melmoth,” “Enlightenment” is deeply rooted in a sense of place and history. But where those novels had elements of the gothic and supernatural, this one feels more grounded in reality (albeit a reality where cosmic wonders lurk just beyond our perception).

There are thematic parallels to works like Marilynne Robinson’s “Gilead” in its exploration of faith and doubt, or Maggie O’Farrell’s “Hamnet” in its deft handling of historical settings. But Perry’s voice remains distinctly her own—erudite yet accessible, lyrical without being overwrought.

A Few Cloudy Patches in an Otherwise Brilliant Sky

If I have any quibbles with “Enlightenment,” they’re minor. The pacing in the middle section occasionally drags, getting bogged down in the minutiae of astronomical research. And while Perry’s prose is generally a delight, there are a few moments where it veers into purple territory, particularly in some of the more rapturous descriptions of celestial phenomena.

Some readers might find the non-linear structure challenging to follow, especially in the early chapters. It requires a bit of mental gymnastics to keep track of where (and when) we are in the story. But stick with it – the payoff is well worth the initial confusion.

These are small clouds in an otherwise brilliantly illuminated sky. They do little to dim the overall radiance of Perry’s achievement.

A Stellar Achievement

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry is a novel that defies easy categorization. It’s a historical drama, a love story, a meditation on faith and science, and a coming-of-age tale all rolled into one. That Perry manages to juggle all these elements without dropping a single one is a testament to her skill as a writer.

This is a book that rewards close reading and repeated visits. Like the night sky itself, the more you look, the more you see. Layers of meaning and connection reveal themselves slowly, constellations of theme and character emerging from what at first glance might seem like chaos.

It’s no wonder “Enlightenment” has been longlisted for the Booker Prize. This is literature of the highest order—intellectually stimulating, emotionally resonant, and beautifully crafted. Perry has given us a novel that, like the best scientific discoveries, expands our understanding of the world and our place in it.

In the end, “Enlightenment” left me feeling both humbled and exhilarated. Humbled by the vastness of the universe and the complexities of the human heart; exhilarated by the power of great literature to illuminate both. It’s a book that will stay with you long after you’ve finished, its characters and ideas continuing to orbit in your mind like distant, beloved stars.