The Luminaries

Staines has lunch with Mannering. Mannering commends Staines on his success and on his purchase of the Gridiron for 25 pounds. He asks Staines why he did not spend more of the money, and Staines says it is a secret. Mannering complains that Staines is not telling him the whole story.

Shepard spots Sook at the hardware store in Hokitika after he moved into the Kaniere Chinatown camp.

Lauderback is reading a letter from his half-brother, Crosbie. The letter describes Crosbie’s move to the Arahura Valley near Hokitika and talks about Crosbie’s fortune being stolen. Lauderback realizes that Crosbie was not in on Lydia and Carver’s scheme, as he had initially suspected.

Staines visits Anna at the Gridiron Hotel. He does not recognize the dress she is wearing as being one of the dresses he was guarding for Carver. He tells her about how Crosbie mentioned Anna’s name and described how Carver had robbed him. Staines says he regrets working with Carver. Anna tells Staines to take a message to Crosbie on her behalf, implying that she wants Staines to tell Crosbie that she is pregnant with Crosbie’s child.

Tauwhare is visiting with Crosbie in his cottage. He does not tell Crosbie that Carver asked Tauwhare to report back to him if he sees Crosbie; Tauwhare wants to be paid for the information. Crosbie tells Tauwhare that he cut a man’s face. He asks Tauwhare if he has ever killed a man, and Tauwhare says he has not.

The events of Part 8 take place on August 22, 1865. Quee goes to Shepard and tells him that the Aurora is a “duffer claim,” meaning that it doesn’t produce any gold. Quee tells him that Mannering is salting the claim. Shepard hates Chinese men because Sook killed his brother, and he doesn’t take Quee’s claim seriously. He tells Quee to go back to work.

Lauderback writes to Balfour to arrange his stay in Hokitika in order to campaign for the seat in Parliament. He intends to visit his half-brother Crosbie on his way to Hokitika. Lauderback plans to come there on horseback so he asks Balfour to arrange to have his trunk sent from Dunedin to Hokitika on the boat, the Virtue.

Mannering takes Anna to the opium den in the Kaniere camp. He sees that she is upset about something—presumably the fact that Carver is in business with Staines. Mannering tells her she can trust him.

Staines meets with Mannering and tells him he regrets going into business with Carver. Mannering takes Staines to the Aurora claim and tells him that it is a duffer. Mannering proposes a solution to Staines’s problems. He says that Quee, the digger on the Aurora site, does not know that it is a duffer.

Anna is drowsy from opium at Quee’s house. While she is semi-conscious, Quee touches her and realizes that her dress is lined with gold. Eventually, he will realize that all of her dresses are lined with gold; however, he never finds the gold in the orange dress because she only wears it when doing sex work, and never in Kaniere.

The events of Part 9 take place on September 20, 1865. Anna wakes up at Quee’s house and sees him tending the fire. Quee is preparing to smelt the last of the gold he found in Anna’s dresses in order to bank it as gold found at the Aurora.

Staines goes to the camp station and sees the gold Quee smelted from Anna’s dresses labeled as gold from the Aurora. He bribes the gold escort to let him take the gold rather than put it in the bank, and he does not report the gold on the records.

Staines goes to the Arahura Valley, which is Māori land. He buries the gold there because he knows that prospecting is not allowed on Māori land.

Crosbie and Tauwhare are eating dinner together. Crosbie suggests that the desire for gold is not so different from Tauwhare’s desire for the greenstone he collects. Tauwhare angrily insists that they are different.

The events of Part 10 take place on October 11, 1865. Carver returns to Hokitika to find out why the Aurora has dried up (now that Mannering has stopped salting it). He sees Anna on the street; she has taken opium and is intoxicated. She tells him that Crosbie got away and that she helped him. Carver asks her where Crosbie is, and Anna tries to run away. Just at that moment, Carver’s horse starts from a nearby gunshot and, presumably, injures Anna.

Anna awakes after a procedure by Dr. Gillies and sees Löwenthal and Clinch. She tells them that Carver attacked her and that he fathered the child she had lost.

Löwenthal tells Staines that Anna’s baby is dead. Staines goes to Crosbie’s cabin to inform him of the sad news. He also tells Crosbie that he has buried about 4,000 pounds’ worth of gold near Crosbie’s cabin and that he wants to give half of it to Anna. Crosbie writes up the contract and signs it, but by the time he is finished, Staines has fallen asleep.

The events of Part 11 take place on December 3, 1865. Anna has fallen in love with Staines. He has gifted her a bottle of Andalusian brandy. She is 100 pounds in debt to Mannering because of her drinking and opium use. She thinks it will take her over a decade to repay the debt.

Staines realizes that he, too, has fallen in love with Anna. He decides to book her services for an evening and then, the next day, take her to see his gold and give her half of it.

The events of Part 12 take place on January 14, 1866. Anna spends the night with Staines, and they confess their affection for one another. They fall asleep together, and Staines wakes up to see that Anna is gone. She is in her room smoking opium, and he smokes with her. Soon after, he falls and hits his head, as does Anna. They both wander outside, dazed. Staines goes to the dock, trips, and collapses; he is presumably nailed into a shipping crate by accident. Anna falls down on the road, unconscious.

Meanwhile, Carver enters Crosbie’s cabin and opens a vial of laudanum. Crosbie drinks half of it and dies. Carver burns the gift contract.