Eliza Henry Jones’ P is for Pearl is a sweet piece of summer escapism. Set in a quiet beach town in Tasmania, complete with romance and hints of mystery, it’s an easy way to pass the time over the summer holidays, sitting out in the sun with a drink in hand.
The reader is dropped into the life of Gwendolyn Pearson, who is just getting comfortable in her new step family. While the arrival of two new neighbors and the scent of romance pushes things forward, much of the novel is devoted to unraveling Gwen’s past while she uncovers family secrets.
The mystery feels a little forced at points, with Gwen going about her life as usual until a passage of her diary appears on the page and reveals that all is not right in her world. The reader knows that something dark and tragic has happened, so it’s hard to be engaged in average teenage antics while they wait for more clues.
Before all of the pieces start to fall together, the characters feel very archetypal, filling the niches Henry Jones needed for the narrative. Then the dam breaks, and we finally get to see how these characters were affected by tragedy. As Gwen struggles to accept the truth about her mother, she has some real conflict with the people around her, and the story is filled with life.
The re-assemblage of a family after a loss is a complex situation, and Henry Jones provides plenty of potential with a stepmother and brother, a new half-sibling and a withdrawn dad. Tension and reconciliation are an important part of the recovery process, and it would have been nice to see this earlier in the novel.
P is for Pearl is about identity, in a subtle way. While the core focus is the mystery of Gwen’s mother, it’s also about finding herself outside of her person she shaped herself to be to please her mother. It’s a novel about grief, but also about the never-ending changes we make as people.
Cally Black’s In The Dark Spaces is an immersive sci-fi thriller that features some incredible aliens and insightful thoughts on human nature. While it’s full of action and danger, the heart of the story revolves around family, morality, communication, and love in all its forms. Exposition is scarce, but this works in the book’s favour. [...]
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, which has been deemed by both critics and the general public as a staple in both horror and gothic literature, readers are introduced to Jonathan Harker, who travels to the region of Transylvania to meet with Count Dracula in order to assist him in his real estate affairs. It is not long, …
Jakob Wegelius’ middle-grade novel The Murderer’s Ape tells the story of Sally Jones, an anthropomorphic gorilla working closely with a man known as ‘The Chief.’ Together, the two journey all around the coastlines and rivers of Europe and its surrounding areas aboard a grand sailing ship known as the Hudson Queen. When a midnight expedition …
If you’re a fan of the recent film version, Riggs’ debut novel is a must-read. His engaging writing transports you into his gothic and fantastical world, combining imagery and expression to make it difficult to put down. The voice of the protagonist, 16-year-old Jacob Portman, is full of personality and is relatable to anyone who …
An exploration of both time-travel and identity, Allison Evans’ Ida is a beautifully diverse and emotional story that I feel I’ve been waiting to read long before I knew it existed. Time travel is usually a hit-or-miss for me, but the reader learns about Ida’s powers more or less at the same pace as she [...]
GHOST BIRD follows the tale of Aboriginal twins Laney and Stacey, who grew up in their lower-middle-class rural Australian town. Their idyllic life, however, is thrown for a curveball when Laney mysteriously goes missing after going out with her friends. Through a bizarre series of premonitions that fringe on the supernatural, Stacey becomes obsessed with …
Book Review – P is for Pearl by Eliza Henry Jones
The reader is dropped into the life of Gwendolyn Pearson, who is just getting comfortable in her new step family. While the arrival of two new neighbors and the scent of romance pushes things forward, much of the novel is devoted to unraveling Gwen’s past while she uncovers family secrets.
The mystery feels a little forced at points, with Gwen going about her life as usual until a passage of her diary appears on the page and reveals that all is not right in her world. The reader knows that something dark and tragic has happened, so it’s hard to be engaged in average teenage antics while they wait for more clues.
Before all of the pieces start to fall together, the characters feel very archetypal, filling the niches Henry Jones needed for the narrative. Then the dam breaks, and we finally get to see how these characters were affected by tragedy. As Gwen struggles to accept the truth about her mother, she has some real conflict with the people around her, and the story is filled with life.
The re-assemblage of a family after a loss is a complex situation, and Henry Jones provides plenty of potential with a stepmother and brother, a new half-sibling and a withdrawn dad. Tension and reconciliation are an important part of the recovery process, and it would have been nice to see this earlier in the novel.
P is for Pearl is about identity, in a subtle way. While the core focus is the mystery of Gwen’s mother, it’s also about finding herself outside of her person she shaped herself to be to please her mother. It’s a novel about grief, but also about the never-ending changes we make as people.
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