The Women of Pearl Island

October 4, 2021
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.

October 15, 2021
Just off the east coast of England sits a small scrap of land called the Island of Dohhalund. Newly reopened, it's been abandoned since the military's requisition of it in 1955. In an attempt to escape the devastating loss of her mother, Tartelin takes a mysterious job on the desolate island, to catch and kill butterflies for the eccentric Marianne Stourbridge. Marianne grew up on the island and is determined to uncover the secrets it has been keeping for over 60 years. Flashing back and forth from Tartelin's point of view in 2018 and Marianne's in 1927, the stories of these two women and the island's long-held mysteries unfold. This is a book for all of the explorers out there. Lovers of natural science and history will enjoy a look at the evolution of an island left to its own devices for decades. Fans of Delia Owens' Where the Crawdads Sing (2018) will connect with the science, mystery, and isolation of this book.

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November 1, 2021

Tartelin, a young art student, takes a job on a desolate, mostly uninhabited island just off the east coast of England after her adoptive mother dies. Tartelin's employer, elderly Marianne Stourbridge, lives on the island in the creaking ruins of her family home, without modern amenities. The island was requisitioned by the British army during World War II, and Marianne has only recently returned to her childhood home after the army's departure. Marianne, a lepidopterist who uses a wheelchair, is convinced that her research will prove conclusively that the army conducted illegal tests during its time on the island. Tartelin's task is to capture butterflies and bring them back to Marianne for dissection and analysis, as well running the house, which is full of overwhelmingly sad memories for Marianne. As Tartelin settles into her job, she meets others on the island, some of whom know Marianne's sad secrets. She also meets another scientist who might alter her future. Growing to love the island, can Tartelin convince Marianne to reveal its secrets? VERDICT Lyrical but sometimes grim, Crosby's (The Book of Hidden Wonders) narrative will satisfy readers who appreciate complex and compelling fiction.--Penelope J. M. Klein, Edinburgh, Scotland

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