num_pages: 137
description: During a school holiday 15-year-old Francie escapes from her stifling New York home to the seaside on Long Island. On the beach she is raped leaving her pregnant and unable to return home. Even her adopted Jewish family at the coastal motel at which she has taken a summer job cannot assuage her unhappiness and she becomes a victim of her age her era and of society. In Halegulas first-person narration there is real understanding of the difficulties of communication between adults and teenagers in the late 1950s. The Pearl Bastard is a sensitive lyrical evocation of the world of adolescence that is as relevant now as it was on its first publication. Part of the new look Peter Owen Modern Classics range featuring a logo crafted by graphic design icon Alvin Lustig.
language: English
title: The Pearl Bastard
publisher: Women's Press (UK)