r/bookclub • u/nicehotcupoftea World Reader Leader | 🎃🧠🥇 • Oct 24 '25

The Luminaries [Discussion 6/9] Big Fall Read | The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton | CARDINAL EARTH through SUN IN PISCES

Welcome to the sixth discussion of The Luminaries. Today we are discussing CARDINAL EARTH through SUN IN PISCES.

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A summary (as best I can) is below and questions will be in the comments.

CARDINAL EARTH

Moody regrets that he wasn't more forgiving with his father and brother, and now he doesn't know where his brother is. He returns to the Crown Hotel to open his trunk, but discovers that it's not his. It has Lauderback's name inside - they had obviously got mixed up, and his trunk was probably at Lauderback's rooms. He decides to go through it and has no qualms about it. He finds the deed of sale of the Godspeed, signed by a Mr. Francis Wells nine months prior, as stated by Lauderback to Balfour. On close examination', the "F" of the signature looks like a "C", and a dot of ink suggests it was signed ambiguously, to be read as either Francis Wells or C. Francis Wells. Moody thinks Francis Carver must have stolen the birth certificate that he was in possession of last June so he could pose as Crosbie Wells. With the ambiguous signature on the deed of sale, he would be able to deny he signed it. He wonders if "Francis" had been added to the birth certificate. Carver had used Crosbie Wells's identity with Lowenthal, but Francis Wells’s with Lauderback prior - he must have been pretending to be Crosbie Wells's brother with Lauderback.

In a secret compartment he finds some letters to Lauderback, signed from his brother, Crosbie Wells, in Dunedin. Crosbie Wells introduces himself to Lauderback as his brother, a bastard sired by their father, to a whore, taking on the surname of his parish priest; the father had sent him £20 advising he would not be named in his will. Although the letter wasn't signed, he tracked the origin to their father's house, but didn't ring the bell. When he saw the name Alistair Lauderback in the Shipping News departing for the colonies, he assumed it was his father, and followed him to Dunedin, only to find it was his brother, having the same name. He requested the return fare. He writes again, he's desperate to go home and see his father who is dying. The letters become more desperate - he says his mother Sue Butcher, was a beauty, and their father's favourite. Eventually he resolves to stay in New Zealand, he likes the equality among men there. He starts to wonder if Lauderback looks for him.

After a decade, in the next letter, he states that he is married and Mrs Wells is a fine woman, and asks Lauderback his opinions on the gold rush. Later he writes to congratulate Lauderback on his marriage to Caroline Gough. The letters take on a diary form, not expecting them to be read or replied to, asking him about his resignation from the superintendency. Eventually he writes that he has struck gold and is now wealthy, believing he is now the richer of the two. He has not yet declared the ore and will export it privately. Next he writes that he and his wife are no longer together and he has moved house. He has made friends with a Maori man, Terou Tow-Faray. Hearing that Lauderback is running for Parliament, he will vote for him as he has a cottage in the Arahura Valley. He instructs Lauderback to reply with an "X" if he wants him to cease writing.

A MONTH WITHOUT A MOON

Mannering arrives at the Wayfarer's Fortune and shares a bit of banter with Lydia Wells. He says that she and Anna will be invisible to the spirits because they're wearing black. He challenges her on her ability to tell fortunes. Ah Sook and Ah Quee are by the fireside. Mannering wants to speak with Anna, but Lydia Wells is keeping her upstairs until the séance. He asks Ah Sook why he's there - he’s got questions for Emery Staines. Pritchard warns Frost to keep both eyes open; he should watch Lydia Wells while Nilssen watches Anna. Nilssen tells Balfour that Lauderback knows about his commission and is publishing a letter in the paper about it, with Shepard's response to be published underneath. Balfour denies telling Lauderback about Nilssen's commission, and wonders how Shepard knew about Lauderback and Lydia Wells. Nilssen suddenly confesses that he was the one who broke his oath. When the town finds out that Lauderback took Lydia Wells as his mistress, he could lose his seat in Parliament.

Tauwhare asks Clinch why he bought Crosbie Wells's cottage and he says it was Charlie Frost's idea. If you own the land, and you find some gold, it's yours. Lowenthal asks Tauwhare if he had found anything at the wreck - he didn't. Clinch speaks to Lowenthal about Anna’s baby. Lowenthal wants to know when Clinch heard this news and if he had suspected Carver. Lowenthal suspects that Anna might not have been telling the truth. Clinch said it was a man from Dunedin, Anna had come over on the Godspeed, but didn't know if she had known Carver. She named him after the child was dead. Gascoigne introduces Moody to Lydia Wells. She asks Moody if he has an interest in the occult, and he answers without giving offence. She challenges him on his use of the word "know" and he says it's seeing something from all sides. She says you can't see a spirit from all sides and he admits he doesn't believe in them. She asks why he had booked a ticket to the séance; he says out of curiosity. They have a philosophical argument and she asks how well he knows Gascoigne. Gascoigne reveals that Moody was Mr Carver's passenger on Godspeed, which alarms Moody as he was using a different name on the ship. He wonders if Lydia Wells knew about the phantom in the hold.

VENUS IN AQUARIUS

The room is prepared for the séance, with the seven guests seated in a circle. Ah Quee and Ah Sook, faces painted in make-up, sit either side of the hearth. Lydia Wells explains that Anna Wetherell has been preparing herself for communion with the dead and mustn't be disturbed. They promise to focus and to ignore Anna when she arrives. Lydia Wells explains how the séance works and what might happen. Sometimes the dead cannot talk, and will instead leave a “token”. She tells them about one such séance where a watch stopped and a painting fell off the wall, leading the participants to uncover the truth about a woman's death. Lydia Wells insists she's the real deal. Anna Wetherell enters, wearing the mourning dress, and sits facing Lydia Wells. Frost glances at Anna and fails to see Lydia doing something suspicious.

Later Frost would describe what ensued as Lydia having a “fit”, her head rolling around and muttering the name “Staines”. She stops, looks past Frost to Ah Sook and makes unintelligible sounds. She throws herself on the floor, the paraffin lamp falls over and the table catches fire. Later they ask Ah Quee if Lydia was speaking Chinese; he doesn't answer but Ah Sook says that she can speak Cantonese - she was saying: “One day I come back and kill you. You kill a man. He die. I come back and kill you, one day.”. Ah Sook says that this is Francis Carver, but the others say that Francis Carver is at the Palace and isn't dead, so therefore it's not a séance. Ah Sook says that in fact when you talk to Carver, it's you who's dead. One digger thinks that this is all a shame and Ah Sook is in on it. They remember however that Carver was born in Hong Kong. Ah Sook is surprised to hear that Carver is back. They revive the seemingly unconscious Lydia with a splash of water, and she is unable to recall what happened. She denies being able to speak Chinese and asks what happened to the lamp. Ah Sook quietly leaves to be on his own and reflect upon the return of Carver. He knew that Lydia had looped a thread around the lamp to make it fall, and the table had been prepared with paraffin oil. He recognised her words as his own, remembered after so many years. He resolves to move out of his cottage, head for the hills to look for gold, and save up enough to buy a gun to kill Carver.

Part 3

MERCURY IN AQUARIUS

Moody sees an engagement notice in the paper, a couple of names he knows, with the forwarding address of the Palace Hotel. He is aware that although Carver has a room there, he actually sleeps in a small room off the kitchen at the Crown Hotel. While walking to his claim, which is at a distance from the town, Moody sees An Sook emerge from a tent. They chat, and when Ah Sook asks about Staines and Carver, Moody tells him that Carver sleeps in a humble little room at the Crown with a good view of the road. He's on the watch for Ah Sook, but Moody wants to know why. Ah Quee knew the story but couldn't communicate it in English. Ah Sook tells Moody that Carver murdered his father, and he plans to kill him at the Crown in revenge. Moody warns that he'll hang for that. Ah Sook shows him the gold he's saved to purchase the gun, and although he had a particular shop in mind, Moody recommends a different place of purchase for a weapon that will do the job better. Ah Sook gifts Moody the tea caddy used for storing his gold.

SUN IN PISCES

Lydia Wells admits that the séance failed, and concludes that Staines is not dead. This has the effect of making her seem more reliable, and her fortune-telling business goes up. She takes daily walks with Anna Wetherell, and today's walk was earlier than usual because she was due in court with regards to the will. Cowell Devlin takes the opportunity to catch Anna alone later at the Wayfarers Inn and requests to speak to her about an item of business. She looks malnourished, but he noticed two of everything in the kitchen. He congratulates her on giving up opium, which she says she no longer needs. He remarks that Carver will probably move in soon, as he had seen the announcement of his engagement to Lydia Wells in the paper.

He hands her the deed of gift from Staines to her, witnessed by Crosbie Wells, which she says she wasn't aware of. He is surprised that she can read it, and explains that it's unsigned, and hence invalid. Devlin suggests that it makes her look bad, and she should confide in him, but she says it has nothing to do with Wells's money; it's about Emery’s. The gold in the hut had originated from the Aurora mine, therefore it effectively belonged to Staines.

The kettle boils, Devlin goes to make the tea, and Anna quickly and confidently signs Emery Staines’s signature. Although she had never seen it, she was sure it was right. Devlin accuses her of fraud, but she claims ignorance and tucks the document in her dress, telling him he can't prove it. He asks her if she knew the gowns she purchased belonged to Lydia Wells. These were the five gowns Wells used to blackmail Lauderback, with Carver's help, each containing hidden gold, the orange one currently with Gascoigne, and the others at the Gridiron Hotel. She is shocked that he knows this, but says that she had discovered the gold in the orange dress with Gascoigne. She checked the other four, hoping to find gold to pay off her debt, but found weights instead.

Devlin asks Anna where Staines is, and she says that all she knows is that he's alive, because he is sending her “messages” that she feels in her head. At this moment, Lydia Wells enters.

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