Pearl

*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 BOOKER PRIZE*

"Pearl, an exceptional debut novel, is both a mystery story and a meditation on grief, abandonment and consolation, evoking the profundities of the haunting medieval poem. The degree of difficulty in writing a book of this sort - at once quiet and hugely ambitious - is very high. It's a book that will be passed from hand to hand for a long time to come." --Booker Prize judges

A haunting debut novel inspired by the medieval poem of the same name

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.