The Luminist - Paperback

by David Rocklin (Author), Jacquelyn Mitchard (Introduction by)

IN COLONIAL INDIA, at a time of growing friction between the ruling British and the restless Indian populace, a Victorian woman and her young Tamil Indian servant defy convention, class, and heartbreak to investigate what is gained - and lost - by holding life still. Suggested by the life and work of photographic pioneer Julia Margaret Cameron, The Luminist filters 19th century Ceylon through the lens of an English woman, Catherine Colebrook and a 15 year old Tamil boy, Eligius Shourie. Left fatherless by soldiers, Eligius is brought as a servant to the Colebrooks' neglected estate. In the shadow of Catherine's obsession to arrest beauty - to select a moment from the thousands comprising her life in Ceylon and hold it apart from mere memory - Eligius transforms into her apprentice in the creation of the first haunting photographs in history.

Front Jacket

Photography comprises the bright,
tensile thread in the sweep of The Luminist,
drawing tight a narrative that shifts between
the prejudices and passions of Victorian
England and those of colonial Ceylon. It binds
the destinies of Catherine Colebrook, the
proper wife of a fading diplomat, who rebels
against every convention to chase the
romance of science through her lens, and
Eligius, an Indian teenager thrust into servitude
after his father is killed demanding
native rights.
The Luminist is a weave of legend and history,
science and art, politics and domesticity
that are symphonic themes in the main
title, the story of an enduring and forbidden
friendship. Catherine and Eligius must
each struggle with internal forces that inspire
them and societal pressures that command
them. Rocklin's is a bold landscape, against
which an intimate drama is poignantly played
out. Just in this way, our minds recall in
every detail the photo snapped at the moment
of pain, while all the lovely scenes seem to
run together.

Author Biography

DAVID ROCKLIN grew up in Chicago. He graduated from Indiana University with a BA in Literature. After attending law school, he pursued a career as an in-house attorney and continues to serve as a mediator. He lives in California with his wife and children.