The Pearl Thief
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
From the internationally acclaimed bestselling author of Code Name Verity comes a stunning new story of pearls, love and murder – a mystery with all the suspense of an Agatha Christie and the intrigue of Downton Abbey.
Sixteen-year-old Julie Beaufort-Stuart is returning to her family's ancestral home in Perthshire for one last summer. It is not an idyllic return to childhood. Her grandfather's death has forced the sale of the house and estate and this will be a summer of goodbyes. Not least to the McEwen family – Highland travellers who have been part of the landscape for as long as anyone can remember – loved by the family, loathed by the authorities. Tensions are already high when a respected London archivist goes missing, presumed murdered. Suspicion quickly falls on the McEwens but Julie knows not one of them would do such a thing and is determined to prove everyone wrong. And then she notices the family's treasure trove of pearls is missing.
This beautiful and evocative novel is the story of the irrepressible and unforgettable Julie, set in the year before the Second World War and the events of Code Name Verity. It is also a powerful portrayal of a community under pressure and one girl's determination for justice.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In 1938, Lady Julia Beaufort-Stuart, 15, returns from boarding school for one last idyllic summer at her late grandfather's Scottish estate, which has been sold to pay his medical bills. Her plans are upended when she's assaulted near the river where she and her grandfather harvested mussels for their pearls. Rescued by tinkers who worked her family's estate for centuries, Julia awakens with no memory of who knocked her unconscious and is startled to learn that a scholar hired to catalogue the estate's antiquities is missing. Julia enlists the tinkers, Euan and Ellen McEwen, to help unravel what's happened, partly to ensure that discrimination against the tinkers doesn't result in their arrest for crimes they didn't commit. Each thread of this novel is exquisitely woven; Wein is a deft plotter the complex narrative is paced like a mystery and vivid Scottish slang adds humor and texture. It isn't necessary to have read Code Name Verity to enjoy this prequel, but readers who fell in love with Julia the spy will appreciate learning about where she first discovered what it means to be a friend. Ages 12 up.
