Pearl in a Cage cover art

Pearl in a Cage

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Pearl in a Cage

By: Joy Dettman
Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
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About this listen

 On a balmy midsummer's evening in 1923, a young woman - foreign, dishevelled and heavily pregnant - is found unconscious just off the railway tracks in the tiny logging community of Woody Creek. The town midwife, Gertrude Foote, is roused from her bed when the woman is brought to her door. Try as she might, Gertrude is unable to save her, but the baby lives. Gertrude's daughter Amber - who has recently lost a son in childbirth - and her husband Norman take the child in. Loved by some but scorned by more, including her stepmother and sister, baby Jenny survives her childhood and grows into an exquisite and talented young woman. But who were her parents? And why does she so strongly resemble an old photograph of Gertrude's philandering husband?©2009 Joy Dettman. (P)2009 Bolinda Publishing Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Marriage Heartfelt Young Adult

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Editor reviews

Joy Dettman's compelling saga is set in the rural Australian logging town of Woody Creek in the early 1900s, when Gertrude Foote discovers a pregnant woman near the railroad, unconscious and near death. She doesn't survive, but the child does, and is soon taken in by Gertrude's daughter, Amber, and her husband, Norman, who have recently lost their son in childbirth. The fairy tale turns dark, though, as young Jenny suffers under the neglect and abuse of her new mother. Diedre Rubenstein's performance is sharp and precise, bringing deft characterization and heightening the emotions of this brutal tale.

Critic reviews

"Joy Dettman is a natural-born storyteller whose dark tales of rural life are addictive." (The Age)
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I like this book initially, and thought the story sounded hopeful, but found it incredibly depressing. The story spent far too much time the some of the characters who weren’t the main person described in the description details, so the story seems to lie it’s way. Then a sudden change in direction really does bring the book to its lowest point in the later stages, so quite disappointed, it is reasonably well written, but I wouldn’t recommend this book on.
But the reader was brilliant, if not for her I would have persisted with it.

Beautifully Read

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19 CD's on one book and then ended in a way that the listener feels dispointed, like something is missing. The book captures your attention to listen, well written and narrated but ends as if a lot can still be said and explained.

Would have liked more in the end....

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