The Women of Pearl Island
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A darkly beautiful dual-timeline novel with a captivating mystery, for fans of Diane Setterfield and Kiran Millwood Hargrave
’Like a surreal cabinet of curiosities – haunting, eerie, evocative’ Bridget Collins, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Binding
When Tartelin Brown accepts a job with the reclusive Marianne Stourbridge, she finds herself on a wild island with a mysterious history.
Tartelin is tasked with hunting butterflies for Marianne’s research. But she quickly uncovers something far more intriguing than the curious creatures that inhabit the landscape.
Because the island and Marianne share a remarkable history, and what happened all those years ago has left its scars, and some terrible secrets.
As Tartelin pieces together Marianne’s connection to the island, she must confront her own reasons for being there. Can the two women finally face up to the painful memories that bind them so tightly to the past?
Atmospheric and deeply emotional, The Women of Pearl Island is the captivating novel from the author of The Book of Hidden Wonders.
Reviews
‘Polly Crosby whips up a lush, mythical world . . . realised beautifully in vivid writing. A book worm’s treat!’ Eve Chase, author of The Glass House
‘A luminous and beautiful novel that gently lures the reader into a captivating story with a mystery at its heart. Polly Crosby expertly weaves together the present and historical strands of the two women who seek solace on a wild, strange island, creating a powerful and haunting atmosphere.’ Jennifer Saint, author of Ariadne
‘A beautifully written tale of butterflies, secrets and silk’ Sonia Velton, author of Blackberry and Wild Rose
‘Dreamy image after image . . . like a series of beautiful paintings’ Sara Sheridan, author of The Fair Botanists
‘Utterly transporting. Polly Crosby plunges us into a hauntingly beautiful landscape with complex and compelling characters, luring us in with her original plot and her elegant prose. A wonderful read’ Annabel Abbs, author of Frieda: The Original Lady Chatterley
‘Mysterious and suspenseful . . . a story of visceral beauty and the transformations life undergoes to survive. Crosby writes with all the intricate and entrancing artistry of a butterfly's wings’ A. J. Gnuse, author of The Girl in the Walls
‘Polly Crosby is a skilled storyteller, drawing the reader in with a fascinating tale that spools out across two timelines, leading to a dramatic and satisfying finale. She brings the setting of the island to life with weird and wonderful detail that will keep you enthralled’ Elizabeth Lee, author of Cunning Women
About the author
Polly Crosby lives in Norfolk with her husband and son, and her very loud and much-loved Oriental rescue cat, Dali. To find out more about Polly’s writing, please visit pollycrosby.com. Polly can also be found on Twitter as @WriterPolly.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Crosby (The Book of Hidden Wonders) returns with the languid story of two women, their grief, and the secrets of a remote island off the coast of England. In 2018, two months after 20-year-old Tartelin Brown's mother dies from cancer, Tartelin answers an ad to assist Marianne Stourbridge with catching butterflies on the fictional island of Dohhalund. Marianne is a salty old amateur lepidopterist, and as Tartelin struggles with watching her first butterfly die in a jar, she meets Jacob Hall, a predictable love interest. The narrative moves back and forth between Tartelin's present perspective and Marianne's life as a little girl in the 1920s. While Tartelin explores the island, small mysteries gradually build: were nuclear bombs tested there? What is the real relationship between Marianne and her estranged friend, Nan? As Tartelin grapples with grief over losing her mother and Marianne comes to terms with the past, words from a sea captain's gravestone—"The sea is made up of unspeakable sadness"—become a thematic refrain. Told in atmospheric, evocative prose, this can be a bit sleepy and slow moving, though it has a hypnotic pull. Those who enjoy subtle mysteries may stick around for the plot's gradual unfurling.
