Pearl

By: Siân Hughes

Narrated by: Laura Brydon

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023

Marianne is eight years old when her mother goes missing. Left behind with her baby brother and grieving father in a ramshackle house on the edge of a small village, she clings to the fragmented memories of her mother’s love; the smell of fresh herbs, the games they played, and the songs and stories of her childhood.

As time passes, Marianne struggles to adjust, fixated on her mother’s disappearance and the secrets she’s sure her father is keeping from her. Discovering a medieval poem called Pearl and trusting in its promise of consolation, Marianne sets out to make a visual illustration of it, a task that she returns to over and over but somehow never manages to complete.

Tormented by an unmarked gravestone in an abandoned chapel and the tidal pull of the river, her childhood home begins to crumble as the past leads her down a path of self-destruction. But can art heal Marianne? And will her own future as a mother help her find peace?

©2023 Siân Hughes (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd

Excellent and creative writing

Enjoyed tremendously reading this sad story of loss told so poetically and with unforgettable rawness.

Delightful and Deep

Narration pitch perfect. Vivid sensory prose. Profoundly moving family portrait. Loved it. Looking forward to more from this author and narrator.

I was mesmerized

When someone someone takes their life, they don’t only steal their future out from under our feet, they desecrate their past.It makes it hard to hold onto the good things about them. And no one deserves to be judged on the worst five minutes of their life, even if it turns out those five minutes were the of their life.”

That quote sums up the story in the book Pearl. This gem exudes, profound sadness on so many levels. The disappearance of Marianne’s mother when she was eight years old affected her throughout her life.
Her search for love throughout her life was based on the void left by her mother. I listened to this on audible and was mesmerized by the narrator and her interpretation of the words written by.Sian Hughes.

How her father and little brother (who was an infant when her mother disappeared) coped while deeply felt paled to that of Marianne. It was she who remembered her mother and the love and happiness with which she surrounded her family.

I found myself in tears during the last chapter as the adult Marianne reminisced about her mother and the probable cause of her disappearance. I’ll be thinking of this book and its messages of love for a long time.

PEARL…

Hmm.. This book was definitely engaging, but there were also parts that seemed a little boring. At the same time, I was never tempted to put it down and give up. What I love the most is once again, the descriptive passages. Her scenes are so vivid and clear, you feel you are there in rural England. Returning to live there after her mother's death, she borrowed from the medieval poem Pearl to write a story set in an old house she cycled past every day as a child. You can see the gardens, ponds, rivers, and landscapes; but hear them and the winds. This is a story of a daughter’s journey of grief after her mother commits suicide and she tries to figure out why and in doing so she learns so much of her mother’s history she never knew. Her mother was absent through most of her childhood. Now, Marianne is a mother and she comes back home for her Mother’s funeral. Then, she finds a poem ‘PEARL’ which sets her on a quest. What it really does is take her on a journey within herself. It reminds me of the story about the woman in the second act of her life who tries to make sense of it so far. In doing so there are twists and turns along the way unexpected, shocking and poignant.

At the same time, this reads very plainly and journal like. I felt as if I was reading the character’s diary. There isn’t so much dialogue. It’s sprinkled here and there, but this is more of a retrospective. In this sense, the book is very interesting and as I started with, engaging. If you’re looking for a page turner or edge of your seat kind of read, you’ll be disappointed though. It’s a short read. I finished in one sitting. I do like this author though. She’s a new one for me, and this is a pretty good debut!

Puzzling

Hints of Goldfinch. I found it puzzling in parts but it all comes together in the end. Sad. A rather dark book that leads to an ending of acceptance and moving forward.

Superb

Excellent story over generations after young mother disappeared. Love the language capturing the dimensions of the grief of a daughter who blames herself. . Wonderful last few chapters.

Beautiful writing; sometimes went on too long

This book is elegantly structured, beautifully written and read. Very tender, poignant portrayal of a child puzzling her way through the loss of her mother. Vivid, compelling descriptions of places. In my view the book could have benefited from further editing. There were two or three chapters that did little to deepen the story or move it along. I began to lose empathy with the narrator as she aged and did not seem to mature.

a beautiful untangling of grief, love and motherhood

for a relatively short listen, it feels incredibly full and complex. quite possibly the most beautiful thing i’ve read this year. (be prepared for a little sobbing at the end ❤️)

a meditation of memory, grief, and motherhood.

The 2023 Booker Prize Longlist nominee, “Pearl” is a quiet, yet powerful meditation on grief, motherhood, and memory. Marianne, the protagonist and narrator, tells her life story which is marred by tragedy: when she was 8-years-old, her mother vanished. She left Marianne and her baby brother Joe. For a bit, Marianne felt responsible because all the adults were asking her where her mother could be, as if Marianne inadvertently lost her. Author Sian Hughes brilliantly writes young Marianne; she’s confused and struggles to make sense of her mother’s disappearance.

Marianne was homeschooled. She spent all her youth with her mother, Margaret. They raised chickens and had a makeshift garden. After her mother disappeared, Marianne struggled emotionally. She cannot reckon with her feelings of abandonment and takes out her frustrations on her own body.

A memory Marianne treasures is when her mother recited the medieval poem “Pearl” which is a story of grief…a man lost his Pearl, sees her in his dream and jumps into water to get to her, only to awaken. Margaret is a name that means Pearl. Marianne’s fuzzy memory tries to bring back her Pearl.

Marianne becomes a mother and continues to wonder why her mother left her. The story begins with adult Marianne reflecting on her mother after she herself becomes one. It is these musings, these memories of struggles that allows Marianne to see the beauty of her life, the kindness and patience of her father. As an adult, Marianne sees her mother as a person. As she processes through her fuzzy memory, and with the help of a plot twist, she allows for an alternative view of her mother.

Hughes shines in showing how experiencing a loss at a formative age is emotionally damaging.

I listened to the audio narrated beautifully by Laura Brydon.

Perfect

Very moving account of grief, longing, and love. The poetic prose adds a wonderful quality to the story. The narration by Laura Brydon was beautiful.