Moonlight and the Pearlers Daughter, Lizzie Pook
Moonlight and the Pearlers Daughter, Lizzie Pook
List: $25.99 | Sale: $18.20
Club: $12.99

Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter

Author: Lizzie Pook

Narrator: Anna Skellern

Unabridged: 9 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/14/2022


Synopsis

From the author of The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives and Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge, a “sensitive and compassionate” (The New York Times Book Review) feminist adventure story and historical mystery 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.

Then 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 glamourous 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?

An “extraordinarily vivid” (Kelly Rimmer, New York Times bestselling author of The Warsaw Orphan) 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.

About Lizzie Pook

Lizzie Pook is a London-based travel writer and journalist whose work has taken her to some of the farthest-flung parts of the planet, from the trans-Himalayas—in search of elusive snow leopards—to the vast, uninhabited east coast of Greenland. She has written for The GuardianThe TelegraphThe Times (London), Lonely Planet, and Condé Nast Traveler. Lizzie is the author of Maude Horton’s Glorious RevengeMoonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter, and The Secret Lives of Murderers Wives. Visit her at LizziePook.com or connect with her on Twitter @LizziePook.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Annette on January 24, 2022

In 1886, Eliza with her family sails from London to Western Australia. Her father, as many others, is lured by the prospect of getting rich. Many come to seek their fortune in pearl shell. The story moves to 1896 and the focus of the story is Eliza’s effort to investigate the disappearance of her fat......more

Goodreads review by Pat on February 11, 2022

I don’t read a lot of historical fiction but this one appealed because it is set in a time and place that I don’t know a lot about. In 1886 Eliza Brightwell’s family - herself, her parents, her older brother Thomas, Uncle Willem and Aunt Martha set off from England to Bannin Bay in the Kimberley reg......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on July 19, 2022

3.5 stars: Author Lizzie Pook has written a beautifully atmospheric story of the perilous lives of pearl divers in Western Australia during the late 1800’s. This is billed as a feminist adventure story in that the main character is Eliza Brightwell who is a pearler’s daughter. Her father, a boss of......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader on September 26, 2022

Thank you, @bookclubfavorites, for the gifted book. About the book: “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......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on May 16, 2022

Moonlight and the Pearler's Daughter by Aussie author Lizzie Pook is a historical fiction set in Western Australia in 1886. This is an outstanding debut novel that will capture the hearts of many readers, especially those who love historical fiction. Highly recommended.......more