In the morning, she made Eligius a part of it. First, the water. Three full buckets brought from the sea. After the water, the silver nitrate crystals.

Eligius sifted the glistening sand. He listened to the names for these things. The sand, the glass, the beast itself. Camera. The memsa’ab called out the words from Holland’s correspondence; each piece took its place.

The Luminist is David Rocklin’s debut novel. It will be released in the United States by Hawthorne Books on October 1, 2011. Set in nineteenth century Ceylon, the novel tells the story of Eligius Shourie, an Indian boy whose father is killed by English soldiers after a melee at the Court of Directors, East India Company. He becomes a servant in the house of Catherine Colebrook. Independent and driven, married to a fading Court Director, Catherine is chasing an obsession: the nascent art and science of photography. Eligius becomes her apprentice in the quest, and a bond neither of them expected is formed while around them, unrest between the native populace and the colonials occupying their country threatens to break open. The Luminist has also been sold in Italy and Israel.