The Final Pearl is an historical novel which opens in the years following World War One and concludes in the 1960s. Written in three parts, the book opens with the love affair between our protagonist's, Pearl's, parents and part one follows their love, life and fortunes from their first meeting through the years of their marriage, the births of their ten children. It then moves to consolidate a first-person perspective upon their youngest child, Pearl. It is structured around the various houses which formed the physical fragments of the protagonist's life. It is a fictional novel based around a true story, that of my own grandmother. The first person is used to follow Pearl's life story as it intertwines with her brothers' and sisters'. It traces fragments of her first memories - the death of her father - and incorporates encounters with her siblings and friends. The story includes tales of boat-building with her eldest brother, Anglo; dress-making with her sisters, admiration of their outings to balls and fanciful love affairs before also moving through her own lovers and friendships outside of family life. During the war, family life expands to offer the reader an insight into the situation of sharing and separation that war brings with the new arrival of boarders - Seal, the Canadians, Mr and Mrs Woodward... - to their home and both the excitement and difficulties they bring. The story follows individual experiences of the war, including the factory jobs adopted by the elder girls, the joining into the air-force of Links and Sparrow, Anglo's naval contribution at Dunkirk and then his exploration around the world in his boat, 'Cute Newt'. As well as collaborating different war experiences alongside Pearl's own, the story shares her central narrative with insights into her siblings' narratives too. Individuals take fragments of the book which then centralise and focus on their stories, showing their marriages and later life journeys and destinations before finally sifting through to the end of war, to a sense of stability of both setting and story-telling as the tale centres solely on Pearl. After the confusion of bombings, house-moving, sisters coming-and-going, the story follows a more direct line of post-war life for Pearl. It shows how she experiences her own love affairs, their trials and triumphs, her marriage, honeymoon, early life and gradual family-building and blossoming until the book finally finishes with the fuller picture of her entire life. The book closes upon her final note and farewell.
