Unlike anything else she has ever written ... Its prose has the elegant sheen of a 19th-century epic, but its concerns â the intersection of science and faith, the feminine struggle for fulfilment â are especially modern
- Steve Almond, International Herald Tribune
The story of Alma Whittakerâs journey of discovery has irresistible momentum
- Helen Dunmore, The Times
Ms Gilbert has established herself as a straight-up storyteller who dares us into adventures of worldly discovery, and this novel stands as a winning next act ... A bracing homage to the many natures of genius and the inevitable progress of ideas, in a world that reveals its best truths to the uncommonly patient minds
- Barbara Kingsolver, <b><i>International Herald Tribune</b></i>
Charming and compelling ... A big novel in all senses â extensively researched, compellingly readable and with a powerful charm that will surely propel it towards the bestseller lists
- Jane Shilling, Daily Telegraph
Gilbert has written the novel of a lifetime
O, The Oprah Magazine
Sumptuous ... Gilbert's prose is by turns flinty, funny, and incandescent
New Yorker
Quite simply one of the best novels I have read in years ... a bejewelled, dazzling novel
- Elizabeth Day, Observer
Readers prepared to enter Gilbert Time will be rewarded: she is an unflaggingly curious writer, prone to delightful touches ... Gilbert's period interests seem boundless - she explores everything from self-sacrifice, to homosexuality, Darwinism and Victorian pornography ... This is a novel to be chewed over, slowly
- Lucy Atkins, Sunday Times
A botanical odyssey through the nineteenth century, global in ambition, revelling in the period's insatiable curiosity about the world ... a tall tale, told with verve and wit
Guardian
Filled with dazzling storytelling
- Susie Boyt, Financial Times
Gilbert writes superbly well
- Wendy Holden, Daily Mail
An intricate, beautifully written historical novel ... A passionate paean to the 19th-century women of science who strove for achievement against the odds
- Anita Sethi, Metro
Gilbertâs observations, of both characters and locations, make this an unexpected joy and in Alma she has created a truly unforgettable heroine
- Anita Chaudhuri, Irish Examiner
Astute and funny ... comes with generous helpings of optimism and romance. Cynics need not apply<i></i>
Irish Sunday Mirror
Ambitious, boldly imagined and packed with authenticating detail, it engages very boldly with the interaction of art and science
Andrew Motion, Guardian
Gilbert reminds readers she can do, and undo, narratives through impeccably observed and original stories<i></i>
Independent
Gilbert shows herself to be a writer at the height of her powers<i></i>
O Magazine
Magnificent ... I was just a few pages into the book when I felt myself relax, aware that I was in the safe hands of a master story-teller
- Anna Carey, The Irish Times
My own 500-pager of choice? Elizabeth Gilbertâs <i>The Signature of All Things</i> ... just read it ... Hugely enjoyable
- Viv Groskop, Observer, Books of the Year