The Forgotten Pearl (Belinda Murrell, Random House)

The Forgotten Pearl is the latest historical fiction offering from Belinda Murrell (The Ruby Talisman, The Ivory Rose). Poppy is an outgoing child who adores her home in Darwin, her family, her strange collection of local pets (which include a snake, two possums and her beloved dog Honey), and her new best friend Maude. None of them expects that the war which rages between Nazi Germany and the rest of the world will touch them. Then Japan attacks Darwin, forcing Maude and Poppy to grow up fast, and to deal with things that no-one should ever have to. There is real strength in the descriptions of setting, and the melting pot of cultures and personalities, and it is clear that Belinda Murrell feels confident writing about this historical period. The flow of the story when it travels back to the war period is evocative and natural. However, the contemporary story, which provides the launching point into the past, isn’t as fully realised and the characters in these snippets don’t ring as true as those in the rest of the book. That aside, The Forgotten Pearl offers a vivid introduction to wartime Australia for younger readers aged nine to 13.

Bec Kavanagh is a Melbourne-based writer and reviewer

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Category: Reviews