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The Pearl
The Pearl
Jul 2, 2025 10:41 AM

Author:John Steinbeck

The Pearl

THE PEARL is Steinbeck's flawless parable about wealth and the evil it can bring. When Kino, an Indian pearl-diver, finds 'the Pearl of the world' he believes that his life will be magically transformed. He will marry Juana in church and their little boy, Coyotito, will be able to attend school. Obsessed by his dreams, Kino is blind to the greed, fear and even violence the pearl arouses in him and his neighbours. Haunting and lyrical, THE PEARL sets the values of the civilized world against those of the primitive and finds them tragically inadequate.

Reviews

It is a wonderfully happy book.

—— Guardian

This light-hearted romp is delightfully witty, packed with puns and boasts a few phrases that Wodehouse himself would have deemed top-hole. Splendid stuff.

—— Sunday Mirror

The finished product resembles, in all but cover, a traditional Wodehousian yarn. Harking back to the summer of 1926, it is a gentle, jolly tale – of farce and mistaken identity, of love lost and found, of cricket matches, village fetes and the eccentric upper classes.

—— Telegraph

At two memorable moments in Jeeves and the Wedding Bells I did indeed laugh until I cried… Jeeves and the Wedding Bells is a masterpiece… This is a pitch-perfect undertaking: proof, almost a century after his debut, that Jeeves may not be so inimitable after all.

—— Spectator

The plot is satisfyingly convoluted in the best Wodehouse tradition . . . A genuine addition to my growing Wodehouse collection and there is no higher tribute.

—— Daily Express

He catches the Wodehousean idiom, periphrasis, surreal similes and bally silliness to a T, all done with love. Please commission a dozen more, Hutchinson.

—— Literary Review

From the first page of Sebastian Faulks’s entirely delightful book . . . we are transported to Wodehouse land. All the details, of plot, of character, and of setting, are lovingly drawn. The hours spent reading Jeeves and the Wedding Bells are pure pleasure.

—— Financial Times

Faulks has caught the mood and the dialogue perfectly

—— Sunday Express

The plot is just as twisty and absurd as you’d want . . . Credit to old Faulks. I’d like to see someone try to do this better.

—— Observer

I was soon laughing out loud and occasionally forgetting this wasn’t the real thing . . . this is a top-hole treat.

—— Mail on Sunday

Heartbreakingly good stuff - just be sure to stock up on tissues

—— Fabulous Magazine , The Sun on Sunday

Hankies ready for the gorgeous, way-weepie tale of a dying mum who makes a scrapbook of memories for her family to remember her by. The multiple points of view layer in the emotion beautifully. 4 Stars.

—— Star Magazine , Star Magazine

heartbreaking yet uplifting

—— All About Soap Magazine , All About Soap Magazine

This is a heart-rending story, but it's also completely absorbing, uplifting, tender, sad and wise

—— Francesca Cookney , The Sunday Mirror

An absolutely beautiful, stunningly written story - you HAVE to read The Memory Book by Rowan Coleman!

—— Miranda Dickinson

Written with great tenderness, The Memory Book manages to be heartbreakingly sad yet uplifting too. You'll hold your loved ones that little bit closer after reading this novel. I absolutely loved it!

—— Lucy Diamond

The Memory Book is warm, sad, and life-affirming, with an unforgettable heroine who will make you laugh and cry. It's a tender book about treasuring the past and living fully in the present; you'll finish it and immediately go give your loved ones a hug.

—— Julie Cohen

You'd think a novel about early onset Alzheimers would be miserable and maudlin but this book is beautiful, touching, warm and life-affirming.

—— C L Taylor

One of my favourite writers

—— Cara Delevingne

This is classic Murakami, an isolated character struggling to make his way through a world both deceptively simple and utterly fantastical, his story told through prose infused with all the beauty and meaning of a Kyoto tea ceremony

—— Freya McClements , Irish Times

His versatility and ability to craft a story is spellbinding… Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage is a fine story that held my attention until the end.

—— Yomi Segun Steven , Nudge

Loneliness, sexual ambiguity and emotional repression- the perfect recipe for a novel that put Murakami back on my list of unputdownable authors

—— John Kampfner , Observer

Kafkaesque, unusual and packed with sex and confusion, this is high-end prose… Murakami is remarkably prolific… A weird and very wonderful descent into the madness of contemporary Tokyo.

—— Paul Critcher , Geographical

Beautifully told with pared-down emotional honesty, this 13th novel from the Booker Prize-winner is fiercely clever and incredibly moving.

—— Hello!

A gripping new novel which brings into question morality, religion and the very nature of life itself.

—— Hunts Post

McEwan masterfully weaves a gripping personal story.

—— Peter Donaldson , Gazette (Colchester)

I feel that both Fiona and the boy somehow sort of transcended naturalistic character

—— Mark Ravenhill , Saturday Review

Emotionally wrenching and visceral.

—— Elle

Gripping.

—— Mail on Sunday

A short novel of great subtlety and tenderness.

—— UK Human Rights

Executed in his trademark elegant prose and is evidently meticulously researched.

—— Carla McKay , Daily Mail

Incredibly moving, intriguing and quite perfect as piece of fiction.

—— Bath Chronicle

Yet another worthy addition to his canon.

—— EasyJet Traveller

The small morning scenes between husband and wife are superb.

—— Catholic Herald

Moving, sad and delicate.

—— Joanna Kavenna , Prospect

True to life [as well as] being well-written.

—— Catherine Taylor, family solicitor , Latest Homes

Very deft, urgent and morally plangent.

—— Lewis Jones , Oldie

Impeccably crafted.

—— Stephanie Cross , Lady

The Children Act is in part a tribute to the best of the legal profession and, as a wordsmith, his deep respect for the best of their prose… The book has some landmark McEwan features of skillfully created tension.

—— Lancet

He offers the reader a masterful study of a mind devoted to fairness… The Children Act is also a fascinating, painstakingly researched look inside the judicial process… Conveyed in crisp prose, this attention to detail elevates the moral conundrums…beyond the sensationalism lesser authors might have pursued. It is, in all respects, a novel that is carefully judged.

—— Irish Examiner

It explores the tension between cool-headed secularism and ardent belief. It is at times preposterous – and yet it has a magical readability and is slender enough to read in one intense, absorbing sitting.

—— Jason Cowley , New Statesman

In typical McEwan style, The Children Act is unputdownable and hauntingly beautiful.

—— Sushmita Bose , Khaleej Times

The Children Act is a…sophisticated exploration of how society treats children and how children’s welfare can be considered in the complex world in which we live, where issues about how children should be raised are not subject to consensus.

—— Carol Storer , Legal Action

If you have any unanswered letters on your desk, McEwan’s latest will have you grabbing your pen pronto.

—— Independent

The Children Act shows McEwan as a master of fiction who strives to teach us how to live.

—— Olivia Cole , GQ Magazine UK

Powerful and moving.

—— Sir David Bell , Times Higher Education

Taut, sparing and effortless, this is another exquisitely wrought novel from the master of the novella.

—— Good Book Guide

A subtly musical arrangement of urgently topical issues…it may be read at a sitting, but resonates for much longer.

—— Lewis Jones , Spectator

It’s absorbing and, almost a novella, it doesn’t outstay its welcome.

—— Nick Bevan , Times Higher Education

Definitely one of the best books I have read this year.

—— Natalie K. Watson , Church Times

This is a wonderful read with sharp, crystalline prose and, together with a superb moral dilemma, this is a beautiful and moving story.

—— Bath Chronicle

Offering a window into a compelling world of life or death dilemmas, this is told in prose as polished as you’d expect.

—— Daily Mail

The book is bursting of beautiful writing. You’ll want to read it all over again.

—— Kirsty Brimelow , The Times

A story of human behavior told in a raw, uncluttered, unforgiving way.

—— Cambridge News

Renowned author McEwan manages to surprise throughout this book, right to the last page.

—— Mayfair Magazine

A story of human behavior told in a raw, uncluttered, unforgiving way – and we could all have done with another couple of hundred pages.

—— Cambridge Magazine

McEwan writes in taut, sparing and effortless prose.

—— Good Book Guide

Ian McEwan writes stories of exquisite precision and clarity. This one is ace.

—— William Leith , Evening Standard

A page-turning novel

—— John Koski , Mail on Sunday

As one has come to expect, McEwan sets up the moral issues with delicacy and precision.

—— John Sutherland , The Times

Ian McEwan is at his most compelling with the story of Fiona Maye… Awesome

—— Marcus Field , Independent

A wonderfully readable and thought-provoking book

—— Kathryn Atkins , Bristol Magazine

A short novel that will linger in your mind for a long time

—— Woman’s Weekly

Another beautifully written masterpiece

—— Beyond

relevant, emotive, moving, this is beautifully written and a guaranteed page turner

—— Matthew Smith , H Edition

One of our best authors at his best.

—— Murray Neil , Hertfordshire Life

One of my favourite authors… McEwan’s fascination with judicial issues, with music and poetry, and with the moral conundrum of how far you place your religious beliefs above the life of someone you love, all feature in this book which will leave you thinking long after you have finished it.

—— Frances Colville , Frost Magazine

It's an enjoyable and often surprising novella.

—— Charlotte Heathcote , Daily Express

It asks fundamental questions in a sober, intelligent way about the choices we make and our blindness when it comes to our beliefs.

—— Francois Ozon, film-maker , Observer

Here he is again: vulnerable, insightful, passionate and utterly in control. He’s amazing.

—— Robert Webb , Mail on Sunday
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