I very much enjoy Perry's writing, which has a sort of gentle intensity and precision.

This book made me think a lot about genre. (Partly because Perry was annoyed to be called a hist fic writer, which I admit made me laugh, because all of this book is set in the past and most of it thirty years or a hundred and thirty years ago. I think 1997 sadly counts as hist fic these days, however upsetting that might be. However I recognise very clearly that the oversimplification of genres can be upsetting, and that often we don't like to be put in a box that we don't feel fits us.)

Anyway of course her genre is lit fic for sure, as the words and their order are as important as the plot. This book is concerned with God and the universe, both of which feel like classic Perry. Science and theology, love and time.

I felt that for me it didn't completely come together, which is why it doesn't get five stars, although I enjoyed it a great deal. I think the way she contrives coincidence and also the randomness of existence is very convincing in this. There is a faint presentiment of disaster, and you may guess what the disasters might be, they are lit fic sort of disasters.

I know this took a long time to write for various reasons and one of the odd things about writing, and books, is how the time taken to write is not reflected in the time taken to read, and indeed the time spent in the writing of a novel is generally invisible to the reader.

There are some beautiful descriptions in here, both of places/scenery and of the characters' emotions. One of the themes of literary fiction I think is the enormity of the gaps between people, and the impossibility of traversing those spaces, even (perhaps especially) when you love someone. And how easy it is to do the wrong thing when trying to do right. Grace and Thomas spend a lot of time thinking about 'goodness' and what that might entail, and whether you need to be guided to be good, and if you do, who might do that best. (God? Or His representatives? But how do you tell?) Both of them are pulled in two directions, between their faith and 'the world'. I have no faith myself but I can see how this might happen, and this book approaches faith (the very particular version of Christianity held by the Strict Baptists) in a way that feels almost recognisable. Thomas's growing fascination with astronomy and the linked mystery of Maria's life is very nicely done and Perry uses his newspaper column to communicate complex theories in a straightforward way.

Enlightenment is a novel about science and faith, as two unlikely friends push at the edges of belief and love. Thomas Hart and Grace Macauley both worship at Bethesda in the Essex town of Aldleigh, long time friends despite being very different ages. When Thomas meets James Bower, and they are drawn into the mystery of nineteenth century astronomer Maria Veduva, he falls in love, but as they are frustrated in their searches for Maria's history, Thomas realises that James doesn't love him in the same way. And Grace meets Nathan, a teenager with no connection to Bethesda, and is caught between different kinds of love and faith, until one moment throws all of them apart.

This is a hard book to describe, with the feeling of a historical novel at times despite being set in the 90s onwards, and with the narrative intercut with Thomas' articles for the local paper. It is about different kinds of beliefs, from religious to astronomy to love, and Perry mingles all of these ideas together in a way that transcends any of them, really. The book focuses in on very human moments and emotions, such as love that wasn't meant to be, and the seemingly small things people do that have huge consequences, and you really feel this from the way it moves perspective, the narrative voice flying through Aldleigh at times to show you what is going on.

Both Thomas' and Grace's stories are moving, particularly Thomas' slow realisations of how things might seem or impact other people differently, and in the importance of just knowing people. The depiction of a gay man who had grown up in a faith that made him feel ashamed of that is gripping and sad, but also he does find purpose and peace, not the least within astronomy and science. Grace's narrative is perhaps a more traditional 'grown up within a particular church and then leave it' one, but again, with a lot of wistful longing for what might've been.

Enlightenment isn't necessarily the sort of book I'd immediately pick out, but I was interested by Thomas' story from the blurb, and actually the book was complex and bittersweet.

I'm not sure I will be able to do justice to this wonderful book. A synopsis of the plot can't convey the beauty of the language or subtleties of the ideas.

But in brief - the novel revolves around two main characters, Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay, linked by the strict Baptist chapel in Essex they attend, Bethseda. Thomas is about to leave the chapel when he sees the infant Grace, whose mother has died, and he feels a bond that means he must stay to be close and care for her. He writes pieces for a local paper, and becomes initially interested, and then obsessed with the story of Maria Vaduva Bell, and her interest in astronomy.

The novel begins in the mid 1990s and ends in the present day, but apart from the occasional mention of mobile phones or shops the narrative is firmly in the 1880s - in both tone and in the characters. It opens with what must surely be a reference to Bleak House - 'Monday: Late winter, bad weather.' And neither Thomas nor Grace belong to their worlds, another bond between them.

It is a celebration of the Essex landscape; an exploration of faith and love, particularly unrequited love, and the passing of time. There is a particularly satisfying link for fans of the Essex Serpent towards the end of the novel. And it certainly spurred me into wanting to know more about the night sky and comets in particular.

A long read and highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a review copy.

This took me a little while to get into, but about fifty pages in I was hooked and read it in two sittings. It's a strange, unsettling book. Thomas is a man who lives a dual life. Mostly a sombre, God fearing man who is a pillar of the congregation of the small, chapel community in the Essex town of Aldleigh but also a man who has a secret life in London, cruising bars and clubbing with men who are now dying of AIDS. He thinks of leaving the chapel but stays when he meets Grace. Grace's mother died in childbirth and Grace's bewildered father turns up with her at the chapel, not knowing what to do. Thomas becomes a surrogate parent and believes that he will be able to help Grace break away from the church as she grows. Grace, like Thomas becomes a strange creature, of the world but not entirely in it. Entwined with their stories is a complicated and deeply satisfying story of astronomy, comets, strange hauntings and mysterious women. My description seems unwieldy but it is a deeply satisfying novel that I enjoyed more and more as I read on.