Book Review: Summer of Pearls

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Summer of Pearls     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Mike Blakely
Class/Genre:   Fiction
Forge, Sep 2000, $22.95, 224 pp.

By 1874, riverboat town Port Caddo was dying due to the Union army winning the recent war and the railroad connecting Texas with Louisiana. The small Texas town gains a minor reprieve when Billy Treat decides to remain in town after his heroic actions. He rescued many people from the recent explosion that destroyed a steamboat.

Billy accepts a job at the local inn when he notices residents collecting pearls from the nearby waters. Billy sends for his friend Trevor Brigginshaw who upon arrival started to buy the pearls. Everyone’s hope leaped to the sky until a flood hit and Billy vanished in the waters failing to save Trevor. Not to long afterward, Billy’s girl and Trevor’s money disappears too.

SUMMER OF PEARLS is a believable coming of age tale told through the eyes of the elderly Ben Crowell looking back over the decades at his youth. Ben was close to Billy and Trevor, wondering over the decades whether they survived the disaster. Talented Mike Blakely has written a unique story that merits a wide audience.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner