I have always enjoyed the quirkiness of Julia Stuart’s books, and whilst it is a long time since I have read any, I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to read this her latest novel.
Brodie McBride is a pearl fisher, in fact he is the last in Scotland. All his life he has been doing this and collecting perfect pearls to complete a piece of jewellery for his wife.
Once it is complete, he will know that their marriage will survive anything. Until that point, Brodie frets.
But being the last at something, means he has been left behind. And so therefore has his wife Elspeth and their daughter Maggie. All Elspeth wants is to be able to protect her daughter and afford a prosthetic arm for her to make up for what she has had to put up with.
All Maggie wants is to make sure her parents are together. Anything else would not be right. She has to take matters into her own hands.
That is when it all unravels for Brodie.
The author creates another world, which whilst it is based in reality, in time and place and this book certainly is more than her others. There is another “other” world about it. All of the characters are crafted and the interact just as if you were eavesdropping on them.
I felt for Maggie and could see her desperation in what she was trying to achieve, I could see why Elspeth wanted something else and how Brodie seem to have hit rock bottom when he had to stop pearl fishing.
The emotion of the story and the characters draws you right into the plot and it was a book where I was not really sure where it could go, a beauty of Julia Stuart’s writing.
Quirky, funny and emotional all wrapped up between the pages of book.
Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this book.
The Book Jotter 
I just skimmed this one as I definitely want to read it for the Read Scotland Challenge. Thanks.