Name: MOONLIGHT AND THE PEARLER'S DAUGHTER.
Rating: 3 (3 reviews)
ISBN: 9789798200915

LIZZIE. POOK

MOONLIGHT AND THE PEARLER'S DAUGHTER.

Lizzie Pook

For readers of The Light Between Oceans and The Island of Sea Women, a feminist adventure story set against the backdrop of the dangerous pearl diving industry in 19th-century Western Australia, about a young English woman who sets off to uncover the truth about the disappearance of her eccentric father.

Western Australia, 1886. After months at sea, a slow boat makes its passage from London to the shores of Bannin Bay. From the deck, young Eliza Brightwell and her family eye their strange, new home. Here is an unforgiving land where fortune sits patiently at the bottom of the ocean, waiting to be claimed by those brave enough to venture into its depths. An ocean where pearl shells bloom to the size of soup plates, where men are coaxed into unthinkable places and unspeakable acts by the promise of unimaginable riches.

Ten years later, the pearl-diving boat captained by Eliza’s eccentric father returns after months at sea—without Eliza’s father on it. Whispers from townsfolk point to mutiny or murder. Headstrong Eliza knows it’s up to her to discover who, or what, is really responsible.

As she searches for the truth, Eliza discovers that beneath the glamorous veneer of the pearling industry, lies a dark underbelly of sweltering, stinking decay. The sun-scorched streets of Bannin Bay, a place she once thought she knew so well, are teeming with corruption, prejudice, and blackmail. Just how far is Eliza willing to push herself in order to solve the mystery of her missing father? And what family secrets will come to haunt her along the way?

A transporting feminist adventure story based on Lizzie Pook’s deep research into the pearling industry and the era of British colonial rule in Australia, Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter is ultimately about the lengths one woman will travel to save her family.

Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter

Cheri McElroy

It’s the late 1800s and Eliza waits for her father and brother to return from pearling in Western Australia. The ship returns, her brother returns…but where is her father?

This story was equal parts gritty and lyrical and had a fantastic female protagonist. I learned a lot of history and had fun doing it. I loved this book.

Thank you #NetGalley and #SimonandSchuster for the gifted advanced reader copy.

Everything has a price. And the truth may cost more than pearls . . . 'If I was lost on the ocean, would you come to find me?' It is 1886 and the Brightwell family has sailed from England to make their new home in Western Australia. Ten-year-old Eliza knows little of what awaits them in Bannin Bay beyond stories of shimmering pearls and shells the size of soup plates - the very things her father has promised will make their fortune. ~~~ Ten years later, as the pearling ships return after months at sea, Eliza waits impatiently for her father to return with them. When his lugger finally arrives however, Charles Brightwell, master pearler, is declared missing. Whispers from the townsfolk point to mutiny or murder, but Eliza knows her father and, convinced there is more to the story, sets out to uncover the truth. She soon learns that in a town teeming with corruption, prejudice and blackmail, answers can cost more than pearls, and must decide just how much she is willing to pay, and how far she is willing to go, to find them. A gloriously rich and wonderfully assured debut, Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter is set in a mesmerising yet unforgiving land, where both profit and peril lie deep beneath the ocean's surface; rendered with astonishing clarity, it is a novel that marks Lizzie Pook as a name to watch.

What an incredible debut! I expected I would enjoy this book when I first read the synopsis but I didn't expected to feel completely immersed. 

Set in 19th century Western Australia in the pearling town of Bannin Bay. Eliza Brightwell is the feisty, strong-willed adult daughter of master pearler Charles, who mysteriously goes missing at sea. Eliza takes it upon herself to search for her father and will stop at nothing to discover the truth. 

Pook has done her research, the detail in this book is outstanding. I could visualise the setting from the first page. Incredible talent. 

Release March 2022

MOONLIGHT AND THE PEARLER'S DAUGHTER.

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