Oscar-winner Graham Moore’s next novel: The battle over the lightbulb

Graham Moore, who won the Oscar for adapted screenplay for “The Imitation Game,” has signed a new book deal. He’s returning to the slightly arcane history of science.

Where “The Imitation Game” was about code-breaking genius and the father of modern computing Alan Turing, Moore’s new novel, “The Last Days of Wonder,” will be about lightbulbs.

Here’s how Random House, which acquired the book, describes it: “‘The Last Days of Wonder’ is an historical thriller set against the backdrop of 1880s New York and centering on the legal battle – a billion dollar lawsuit brought by Thomas Edison against George Westinghouse – fought over the invention of the light-bulb. The story is told through the eyes of Westinghouse’s attorney, 28 year old Paul Cravath (later the founding partner of the prestigious law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore), and focuses on his efforts against enormous odds to win his case for his client.”

Moore’s debut novel, “The Sherlockian,” was published in 2010 and became a bestseller. Since then he’s been busy: In addition to “The Imitation Game,” he’s adapted “The Devil in the White City” for Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio and is at work on two television pilots. And he’s also been at work on this book.

“When I first stumbled on Paul Cravath’s fascinating story five years ago, I was instantly compelled by it,” Moore said in a statement. “Paul seemed to have faced professionally, with the highest possible stakes on the line, the very same issues that I’d been thinking about so much personally: What does it mean to create things for a living? What does it mean to say that you’ve ‘invented’ something? How do people who create things relate to those who don’t, and vice versa? It’s been such a thrill to immerse myself in Paul’s world over these past years, and I couldn’t imagine a more perfect home for the book than Random House.”

A release date for “The Last Days of Wonder” has not yet been announced.

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