Eleanor Catton in conversation, Union Chapel

Your 20s are typically a time for making mistakes and finding your feet. Not for Eleanor Catton. She was busy penning one of the best sellers of 2013 the historical murder mystery The Luminaries , which made her  the youngest winner of the Man Booker Prize  at the age of just 28 . This vast tale of suspense, spanning 832 pages, also stands out as the longest novel to win the prestigious award. Such achievements have cast Catton into the spotlight as a literary phenomenon, and now, this impressive young New Zealander will make a rare appearance in London to discuss her work with Booker Chair judge Robert Macfarlane .

Catton caught critics’ attention with the shrewd confidence of her debut, The Rehearsal, exploring the the fallout of a school sex scandal. Written as part of her creative writing degree thesis, this absorbing story quickly marked out the author as one to watch. 

An utterly compelling tale of murder and wonder followed. The Luminaries is glaringly ambitious from first glance: epically long, yet gracefully managed; intricately patterned without being gimmicky; distinctly removed from our world, but thoroughly convincing. Set during New Zealand's gold rush of 1866, the drama revolves around the disappearance of a mysterious millionaire, the attempted suicide of a lowly prostitute and the discovery of a massive fortune. The connection of these characters is shaped by an astrological model, which Catton describes as revealing the paradox between "the characters being masters of their own fate" and an outcome that is ‘predetermined’.

As chair of the panel that made history by awarding Catton with the Man Booker, Robert Macfarlane, a nature writer in his own right, offers valuable insight.