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It is 1866, and Walter Moody has come to make his fortune upon the New Zealand goldfields. On the stormy night of his arrival, he stumbles across a tense gathering of twelve local men, who have met in secret to discuss a series of unsolved crimes. A wealthy man has vanished, a prostitute has tried to end her life, and an enormous fortune has been discovered in the home of a luckless drunk. Moody is soon drawn into the mystery: a network of fates and fortunes that is as complex and exquisitely patterned as the night sky.

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Eleanor Catton, Jg. 1985, wurde in Kanada geboren. Als sie 13 Jahre alt war, zog ihre Familie nach Neuseeland, wo sie später an der Canterbury University und der Victoria University studierte.

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