Elizabeth Gilbert

At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe - a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met.

Resettling in America, the couple swore eternal fidelity to each other, but also swore to never, ever, under any circumstances get legally married (Both survivors of difficult divorces. Enough said.)

But providence intervened one day in the form of the U.S. government, who - after unexpectedly detaining Felipe at an American border crossing - gave the couple a choice: they could either get married, or Felipe would never be allowed to enter the country again.

Having been effectively sentenced to wed, Gilbert tackled her fears of marriage by delving completely into this topic, trying with all her might to discover what this stubbornly enduring old institution actually is.

After a bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair, Elizabeth Gilbert emerges battered and determined to find what she's missing. So she begins her quest. In Rome, she indulges herself; in India she finds enlightenment through scrubbing temple floors. Finally in Bali she finds a path to peace, leaving her ready to love again.

Everything about life intrigues Alma Whittaker. Her passion for botany leads her far from home, from London to Peru to Tahiti, in pursuit of that rare specimen: knowledge. But as her careful studies draw her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, she meets the man who she will come to love - whose perspective, radically different from her own, will transform the way she understands the world.

Radiating with all the heart, soul and earthiness as its unforgettable heroine, The Signature of All Things is a captivating celebration of the workings of this world, and the mechanisms behind all life.