Elizabeth Gilbert je americká spisovateľka, známa predovšetkým vďaka bestselleru Jedz, modli sa a miluj, na motívy ktorého bol nakrútený aj rovnomenný film. Román Podstata všetkých vecí sa začína koncom 18. storočia a rozpráva strhujúci príbeh o čase, keď ľudstvo stálo na prahu takmer všetkých dôležitých objavov a človek si začal podmaňovať svet.
It's 3 A.M. and Elizabeth Gilbert is sobbing on the bathroom floor. She's in her thirties, she has a husband, a house, they're trying for a baby - and she doesn't want any of it. A bitter divorce and a turbulent love affair later, she emerges battered and bewildered and realizes it is time to pursue her own journey in search of three things she has been missing: pleasure, devotion and balance.
It is the summer of 1940. Nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris arrives in New York with her suitcase and sewing machine, exiled by her despairing parents.