The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein

I’ll start off, up front, by saying The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein is a great book. But who would expect less from the author of Code Name Verity and Rose Under Fire.

Fifteen year old Lady Julia Lindsay MacKenzie Wallace Beaufort-Stuart has returned home for summer break to help her mother and grandmother pack up their household. Her grandfather’s recent death and the realization that they had lost their fortune forced them to sell their centuries old castle, Strathfearn, near Perth, Scotland to a school and construction was under way to convert the house and property to its new use. On her first day home, lying on Drookit Stane, a standing stone in the River Fearn, she is hit over the head and is unconscious for several days. Euen McEwen, a Traveller, a nomadic Scottish group, found her and brought her to the hospital.

Simultaneously, Professor Hugh Housman who was cataloging the antiquities of the household, mysteriously disappears. Julia remembers seeing him in the river, naked, prior to being clonked on the head and many feared that he had drowned, either on purpose (since his advances were recently rebuffed by Solange, Julia’s governess) or by accident.

The Pearl Thief is an amazing story combining Scottish folklore with a coming of age story with a little history with a small mystery. It takes place during the summer of 1938. The Travelers or Tinkers as they’re called (since many sell tin and other metals), are similar to gypsies and have that same derogatory connotation. They are not well regarded by the Scots yet have a long history in the land. The McEwens, especially, were friends with the Stuarts and Julia’s and Euen’s mothers played together as young children.

Wein contrasts the ‘haves’ of Julia’s upper crust gentry status with the ‘have nots’ the McEwens who live from day to day, traveling to where there is work, typically farming. Yet it is the Travelers whose philosophy it is that it is better to give than to receive.

Part of the pleasure of reading Elizabeth Wein is her descriptions–of the land, the history, the mythology. Her story traps you and her language reels you in. I can’t give this book and Wein’s other young adult books, enough accolades.

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A Sense of the Infinite by Hillary T. Smith

Hilary T. Smith, the author of Wild Awake, has written another book I didn’t want to put down, in A Sense of the Infinite. But it’s the subtitle, What Comes After Me and You that really defines this coming of age novel. Annabeth seems to be a personable seventeen year old. She works at the ice cream shop in the botanic garden over the summer and  gets along with patrons and coworkers. However, at home she feels that Noe is her only friend, the person she can be herself with, the person who understands her totally. Noe is loving, sympathetic and will speak for her when she’s tongue tied. But there’s more to Annabeth and more to Noe than meets the eye and as Smith describes Annabeth’s senior year in high school, this all emerges. The big question is whether Annabeth can return to being the independent, nature loving young girl she was before she met Noe in ninth grade or will she transform into the gymnastic loving girl that Noe needs her to be. A lot happens to Annabeth this year, some of it puzzling, some of it appropriate. It is Smith’s writing that draws readers in. She’s got a way with a phrase that draws a picture in your mind. You see the swirling leaves and you hear the silence of the woods. You experience Annabeth’s feelings more than you would with other authors. A Sense of the Infinite is a rewarding read.

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