The Women of Pearl Island

 “The Women of Pearl Island” by Polly Crosby 352 pages

 If you are looking for a page-turner, you’ll want to pass on this beautiful, atmospheric novel. The plot builds steadily and gives lots of surprises, but it is the land and seascapes that make this novel a must-read. 

Tartelin Brown is having trouble moving past the death of her mother. She needs to get away from London and accepts a position as a personal assistant to an elderly woman in a wheelchair on an island off the British coast. 

The island is owned by the Stourbridge family. The elderly woman who calls it home is the last of her lineage. Miss Marianne was raised on Dohhalund (name of the island). Her family made their money from the herring trade and the pearls that are farmed off the island’s rugged coastline. It is a primitive place to live---no cell service, no electricity, and no phones. 

Tartelin’s main job is to collect a variety of butterflies so that Marianne can study them. Something happened on the island during World War II. Something that involved the nuclear testing done there, but no records have survived. Marianne is sure she can find answers in the butterflies that she has been collecting since 1955. 

The book has two timelines: 1955 and 2018. In 1955, a young girl comes to live with the family. Marianne distrusts her as she seems to steal all of Dad’s attention. But there is a bigger secret that Marianne uncovers. In 2018, as Tartelin roams the island in search of butterflies, she meets many people who help her discover the secrets.  

I enjoyed the scenery a lot, but the plotline was a tad slow for me. The book’s title was a mystery until near the story’s end when the island is referred to as Pearl Island. If that sentence had been deleted, the reader would never get it.  Or at least this reader wouldn’t.  Therefore, I’m going to give “The Women of Pearl Island,” 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Finding Mrs. Ford

Finding Mrs. Ford by Deborah Goodrich Royce 404 pages

I have to admit, I thought Finding Mrs. Ford was going to be about Henry Ford’s wife. Don’t know where I got that; there is nothing on the cover that even remotely suggests that. It doesn’t matter---once I started this wonderful novel, I couldn’t put it down.

Mrs. Susan Ford, no relation to Henry that is mentioned in the book, lives a privileged life. She is wealthy, has a stepson whom she adores (and who adores her), a beautiful home, money and staff to take care of her and her home.  Living the good life takes little doing on her part.

Thirty-five years have passed since the events of 1979, and now that past has come to call. She must pay for the life she led then. And for what she did. The FBI knocks on her door and asks about a man named Sammy Fakhouri. An Iraqi with ties to ISIS, he is arrested on his way to see Susan, although Susan was not expecting him.

Jump back to the summer of ‘79. Susan was a college co-ed, a rather studious and quiet young woman. She meets the out-going and sassy Annie. The two become best friends, although they could not be more different. They had a summer job, but when an opportunity arises to work as a waitress in a disco, both jump at the opportunity—Annie more so than Susan.

The disco is a gross, shady place where there is more going on than music, dancing, getting high and drinking. It’s a place were extremely powerful men hangout. Susan gets romantically involved with Sammy. But in 2014, Susan is wondering why he’s coming to see her.

The novel is broken into two parts: Part One focuses on Susan while Part Two focuses on Annie. There is a major twist right at the point where Part One transitions to Part Two---a stunner for sure. Not one that I saw coming.

“Finding Mrs. Ford” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

The Lost Orphan

 The Lost Orphan by Stacey Halls 288 pages

 In late November, 1754, Bess Bright has given birth to a daughter earlier that day. Bess lives with her father, Abe, and her brother, Ned. They live in the London slums selling shrimp to earn enough to not die.  The conditions the family lives in are deplorable. Less than twelve hours are giving birth, Bess is forced to give up her child, whom she has named Clara. The only saving grace is that Bess knows she can reclaim her daughter as long as she can pay for her room and board.

 

I think that scene should have come later. While I felt sorry for Bess, it was hard for me to generate a lot of empathy as I didn’t know Bess or about her life.  I believe it could have been a very powerful episode if it had been the second or third chapter.

 

But it wasn’t.  Chapter Three starts six years later. Bess has been saving to retrieve Clara from the Foundling Hospital.  When she has a pound saved, she makes her way to the hospital, only to learn that her child had been picked up the following day by someone pretending to be Bess. She is distraught over the loss of her child and cannot understand who took her child or how they were able to obtain the information needed to have access to the child.

 

Then the story switches narrators to Alexandra, a widow living with her daughter Charlotte and a few servants. She is afraid to go out of the house and in fact, hasn’t been out of the house in six years. Alexandra’s doctor convinces her to hire a nursemaid for Charlotte, which Alexandra reluctantly agree to do.

 

This is a very complicated plot line. I can’t say much more without spoiling the suspense. However, until the end of the novel, for me, there were a lot of questions, which were answered, but with information I felt could have been revealed earlier.

 

I found the beginning of Alexandra’s story rather slow for most of her first part, but when it did pickup, it was unputdownable! “The Lost Orphan” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.