The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert, 504 pages

Elizabeth Gilbert is known for her memoir "Eat, Pray, Love."  This is is a very readable and enjoyable, epic novel about the life of character, Alma Whittaker, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1800.

Her father, Henry Whittaker, was a self-made millionaire who was born to a poor family in England.  The novel goes from Pennsylvania to England to Peru, to Tahiti to Holland and spans the lifetimes of Alma and Henry.

I wouldn't call it a fast paced novel, but it was engrossing and intelligent and I'm happy I read it.