The Black Pearl by Marie Lion

Description

This funny vehicle, the narrator confesses on the first page, is bringing all her boxes — everything she owns, her favourite books, her presents from the schoolmates who wept at her departure for a country of kangaroos and savages, where they were sure she would be eaten alive. Marie Lion’s novel opens on this picture of a young Parisian girl setting out for the southern world and carries her through what the strange country and its handsome strangers will make of her.

Lion writes with a French detachment that is equal parts irony and tenderness, and the book shares its title’s brilliance — the black pearl is at once the prize of the tale and the woman of the title. From the schoolroom of Paris to the pearl-boats of the southern seas, it is a romance of transformation told by a novelist who understood both worlds. Uncommon and delightful.

Why readers still come back to it

• A French view of the antipodes entirely unlike the English one
• A heroine both witty and wise beyond her Paris schoolroom
• A romance with real salt water and a plot worth following

About this DodaBooks edition

This edition gives you the complete text with clean, professional typesetting, a working table of contents, and careful chapter navigation — designed for comfortable reading on phones, tablets, and e-readers. Instant download after purchase.