The Luminaries

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of anti-Asian racism.

This short chapter informs that three weeks have passed since the men met at the Crown on January 27, 1866. The events of Part 2 take place on February 18, 1866. Since the meeting, the 13 men have “a special understanding” of one another (363). They are bound by their shared secrets. However, they still do not have a full understanding of the events of January 14, 1866.

The chapter ends with a summary of the astrological changes between January 27 and February 18. Chiefly, the Sun has advanced along its ecliptic path, or the path it appears to trace between the Moon and the constellations as the Earth rotates around it. In astrology, this signals “a new world order, a new perspective on the whole” (363).

Tauwhare has been up north in Greymouth since January 27. He has just returned and goes to meet Löwenthal at his newspaper office to put an ad in looking for work. Löwenthal asks Tauwhare if he will be attending the séance Lydia Wells is holding that evening—she has newly renamed the hotel the Wayfarer’s Fortune hotel. At the séance, she intends to contact