DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Pearl Fishers" by H. De Vere Stacpoole. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.
An outsider arrives in rural Scotland, but finds her hopes for a new home elusive in a novel by the author of The Cone-Gatherers: “A remarkable writer.” —The Times When the beautiful pearl-fisher Effie Williamson arrives in a rural Scottish village with her traveler grandparents and siblings not long after the end of World War II, the residents react in many different ways, from hospitable warmth to outright rejection—and tension is exacerbated when the religious, gentle Gavin Hamilton takes the family into his home, the Old Manse. Gavin quickly finds himself drawn to the young woman, but a match with someone like Effie would certainly set off gossip, or worse, among some of the villagers. A difficult love will blossom gradually between Effie and Gavin—under the scrutiny of the watchful locals—in this insightful, emotional novel by a prize-winning author. “As a storyteller, Jenkins has few equals.” —Tribune
Burton D. Fisher's extremely popular Mini Guides feature Principal Characters in the Opera, Brief Story Synopsis, Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples, and an insightful and in depth Commentary and Analysis of the opera.
'Worthy of the greatest respect throughout the English-language world' - Paul Binding, Guardian 'Pared down to a sharp clarity, the prose of this novel cuts out all excess to show the cross-currents running through the heart of a community' - Times Literary Supplement 'Breathtaking in its simple beauty and honest heart' - Doug Johnstone, The Big Issue (Scotland) 'Jenkins is a remarkable writer whose gentlest touch induces the greatest of pleasures' - The Times When a family of travelling pearl-fishers arrives in a small Scottish town, the inhabitants react in their own different ways, from warmth to outright rejection. But how will they respond when love seems to blossom between local man Gavin Hamilton and the beautiful pearl-fisher Effie? The Pearl-fishers is a classic love story and the master storyteller's last novel.
The Summer Walkers is the name the crofters of Scotland's North-west Highlands gave the Travelling People - the inerrant tinsmiths, horse-dealers, hawkers and pearl-fishers who made their living 'on the road'. These people are not gypsies - they are indigenous Gaelicspeaking Highlanders who are heirs to a vital and ancient culture. This book documents their way of life and explores their customs, superstitions, unique language, stories, poetry and songs rough photographs and remembrances. The result is a poignant and deeply moving record of a way of life now on the verges of living memory.
Remarkable for its meticulous archival research and moving life stories, The Pearl Frontier offers a new way of imagining Australian historical connections with Indonesia. This compelling view from below of maritime mobility demonstrates how, in the colonial quest for the valuable pearl-shell, Australians came to rely on the skill and labor of Indonesian islanders, drawing them into their northern pearling trade empire. From the 1860s onward the pearl-shell industry developed alongside British colonial conquests across Australia's northern coast and prompted the Dutch to consolidate their hold over the Netherlands East Indies. Inspired by tales of pirates and priceless pearls, the pearl frontier witnessed the maritime equivalent of a gold rush; with traders, entrepreneurs, and willing workers coming from across the globe. But like so many other frontier zones it soon became notorious for its reliance on slave-like conditions for Indigenous and Indonesian workers. These allegations prompted the imposition of a strict regime of indentured labor migration that was to last for almost a century before giving way to international criticism in the era of decolonization. The Pearl Frontier invites the reader to step outside the narrow confines of national boundaries, to see seafaring peoples as a continuous population, moving and in communication in spite of the obstacles of politics, warfare, and language. Instead of the mythologies of racial purity, propagated by settler colonies and European empires, this book dissects the social and economic life of the port cities around the Australian-Indonesian maritime zone and lays open the complex, cosmopolitan relationships which shaped their histories and their present situations. Julia Martínez and Adrian Vickers bring together their expertise on Australian and Indonesian history to challenge the isolationist view of Australia's past. This book explores how Asian migration and the struggle against the restrictive White Australia policy left a rich legacy of mixed Asian-Indigenous heritage that lives on along Australia's northern coastline. This book is an important contribution to studies of the coastal, or Pasisir, culture of Southeast Asia, that situates the local cultures in a regional context and demonstrates how Indonesian maritime peoples became part of global migration flows as indentured laborers. It offers a hitherto untold story of Indonesian diaspora in Australia and reveals a degree of Indian-Pacific interconnectedness that forces us to rethink the construction of regional boundaries and national borders.
