The Lost Pearl by Emily Madden

Title: The Lost Pearl

Author: Emily Madden

Genre: Historical/Women’s Fiction

Opens:

If Charlie Florio could relive one moment over and over again, it would be the instant he laid eyes on Kitty McGarrie.

Blurb:

Honolulu, Hawaii 1941. On the evening of her sixteenth birthday party, Catherine (Kitty) McGarrie wants nothing more than for the night to be over, even though the opulence of the ballroom befits the daughter of a US Navy Rear Admiral. Then she meets Charlie, a navy officer from the other side of the tracks, a man her parents would never approve of. As rumours of war threaten their tropical paradise, Catherine and Charlie fall in love. But the bombing of Pearl Harbor on 7th December 1941 changed their lives forever. Seventy–five years later, addled by age and painkillers, Catherine tells her granddaughter Kit her story and reveals the tale of a long–lost treasure. Can Kit uncover the secret and reunite her family? Or will the truth tear them apart?

My thoughts: Living in Darwin where we remember the Bombing of Darwin each year in February, the Pearl Harbour bombing is very familiar. Because each year we are reminded that we were bombed only 10 weeks after Pearl Harbour – and the squadron that bombed us was led by the same Japanese commander who bombed Pearl Harbour. In fact the total number of bombs dropped on Darwin was two-and-a-half times more that dropped at Pearl Harbour. So I was overjoyed to get my grubby little hands on this book as it is a period of history that I can relate to. THE LOST PEARL has, for the most part, a dual timeline with two stories, the war years and modern day. Catherine dies in the first chapter and just before she dies she is speaking to her granddaughter Kit and mentions a lost pearl and the name of someone who is not Kit’s grandfather that she loved – but no further information than that. Kit wonders what, and where, the lost pearl is – her grandmother loved pearls and has given Kit lot as birthday and Christmas gifts. Kit decides to look for the lost pearl. When her grandmother’s will is read – Kit has been bequeathed her grandmother’s house. As Kit cleans the house of her grandmother’s belongings she decides to try and track down her grandmother’s secret. THE LOST PEARL then follows Kit’s journey to discovery. However, at the same time the reader is taken back to the bombing of Pearl Harbour as Catherine tells us her story. So for a while the reader knows more than Kit – but not everything. Some things the reader finds out at the same time as Kit. It is impossible to tell you some of the things that happened to Catherine as to do so would really spoil the storyline. Suffice to say my heart went out to her, and was angered at things that happened to this young girl.

While the story is fictional it is based on a lot of fact – and the customs of the day are recreated perfectly. The settings are brought alive on the pages – both in Hawaii and Australia. Another area well reproduced are the social divisions – class, colour and attitudes to women – which only goes to show that we really haven’t progressed all that much today. A young single woman today does have it so much better than a 1940s young miss, more say in her life than Catherine did. Author, Emily Madden, poignantly described the events which took place in Crown Street Women’s Hospital, Sydney – brought tears to my eye along with a thankfulness that my daughters and granddaughter do not have to worry about this. There is eventually a happy ending – and mysteries revealed. A very satisfactory read.

Rating:

Great – I really enjoyed reading it and it is a book I will be recommending to all my friends who like this genre.

With thanks to Harlequin Mira and the author via Netgalley for my copy to read and review.

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