I can't wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this advanced reading copy.,

I really enjoyed Code Name Verity when I read it many years ago, I thought it was a really well-done YA Historical Fiction, so I went into this one with quite high expectations. They weren't fully met, but I did have a lot of fun reading this, so I can't complain! I liked the little illustrations dotted throughout, they felt very fun but possibly a bit too juvenile for a YA novel, especially when compared to some of the subject matters in The Pearl Thief. I feel like there were a lot of good ideas here, but not all of them were executed consistently. Maybe it was a case of too many things being done at once, because I did find myself getting confused at times in the first half. However, I do think Wein really pulled the story back together in the last third, and helped to tie up some loose ends of the mystery. Overall it did just feel as though the focus of the story was too often on aspects that didn't interest me as much as ther actual pearl thief storyline.

Thank you - we featured The Pearl Thief on Caboodle (website and newsletter) in 2018! We look forward to working with you in 2020.

A beautiful novel involving well-loved characters from Code Name Verity. It was so lovely to see where Julie began, I loved getting to know her more.

Already reviewed and feedback sent ages ago. Not sure why these are duplicating. But please find review content at my archived blog www.behindonbooks.wordpress.com

- Thanks! Sorry this is a little haphazard. Just trying to clear my Shelf here. :)

Thank you Netgalley for the review copy.

Not quite as an adrenalin rush or as emotional as Elizabeth Wein's other books but no less enjoyable. Can understand where the beginnings of the Code Name Verity books came from. The descriptive text was, as always, perfect and set the perfect beautiful scene in Scotland.

I tried to get into this one, but it wasn't my thing and not having read Code Name Verity I didn't have the motivation to keep reading to see if I got more into it later on.

Elizabeth Wein is a wonderful writer whose female characters are engaging and believable. In hrl latest novel, she captures a sense of pre-war Britain and the difficulties that young women experienced at a time when they are just trying to get a sense of themselves and their place in the world. This title is a prequel and is set 5 yeas before the events in her wartime novel Code name Verity. In the Pearl Thief Lady Julia Beaufort-Stuart, her heroine of Code Name Verity is 16 years old and with a strong sense of right and wrong. She returns to her grandparents home for a final summer before the property is sold.
An assault, a lost memory a missing man, a group of travellers and a secret about Scottish river pearls all form parts of a mystery that Julie and her friends try to solve. Julie has a strong sense of justice and will not be allow her position in society to prevent her from doing what is right or making friends with those that some deem as unsuitable because of their position in society.
Seeing Julie as a younger character made me go back and read Code Name Verity again and if you haven't read it do- it is an amazing book that challenges the reader.
An enjoyable read that explores the themes of love, prejudice, friendship and greed.

While I liked the idea of this book and the use of a strong female lead character sadly I just didn't like this character and as a result never managed to engage with the book or care how it resolved. The fault is mine and not this well written book.

I love, love LOVE historical fiction and this book was an absolutely perfect piece of it!

Oh GOSH, I think this might be my favourite book of the year. Calling it in June, I know, I know.

I'm a huge fan of thirties detective novels like Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers, and this is my perfect spin on that - there's murder, rich people living frivolously, dogs, Bronze age marine archaeology, bisexual characters, castles, cross-dressing Cabaret shows, TREASURE-HUNTING, pearls, buried treasure (did I mention the treasure?), Harriet Vane mentions. I'm so into it in every way.

I downloaded this book having honestly never heard of Elizabeth Wein. I'm not even sure what caused me to select this title in all honesty. I then proceeded to leave it in my 'to-read' section and more or less forgot all about it. I overlooked this and read many other books in the interim.

I regret that decision.

This book reminded me of so many 'coming of age' type books I remember reading myself as a kid. The setting and perhaps also the theme had me picturing 'The 39 Steps' and this is no bad thing.

I am stunned at how much I enjoyed this book. I haven't even read it thinking about possible uses in class, I just got so caught up in the story of it.

I'll consider class uses for it later, for now, I'm just happy to have been genuinely, pleasantly surprised by a book.

(Based on ARC)

An awesome prequel/sequel to what is supposed to be a fantastic duology. It definitely made me want to pick up Code Name Verity and immerse myself even more in this world.

A joyous romp with murder, mystery, intrigue and fun! Featuring Julie Beaufort-Stuart from Code Name Verity (one of my favourite books), this is set in the year before the Second World War, before the events of that novel. It has the feel of an Enid Blyton story; 16 year old Julie is spending her last summer at the family home before it is sold. She becomes embroiled in the disappearance of an archivist who is cataloguing the estate. With help from the local travellers, who are suspected of wrongdoing, Julie is determined to find out the truth. The tone and setting of the book harks back to simpler times; I had no problems picturing the scenes and longed to be by the river with the characters! I read this book slowly; I wanted to savour it, and I think you would lose the charm of the tale if you raced through it.

Before Verity, and before Queenie, there was Julie Beaufort-Stuart. It’s 1938 and Julie Beaufort-Stuart is heading back to her family’s ancestral home, the Strathfearn estate, in Perthshire. Her grandfather’s death and debts have led to the forced sale of the estate, all the belongings, and Julie’s childhood goes with it. But not just that, the McEwens family, a Scottish Traveller family, have been a part of the landscape for as long as Julie remembers. Their families and the estate go back generations. However, a man is missing and presumed murdered, and it’s the McEwens, who are loathed by all but her family, that are assumed to be the culprits. But Julie is determined to prove her friends innocent, as well as figuring out where her family’s missing pearls have gone…

The Pearl Thief is a prequel to Code Name Verity, but it can be read completely separate from Code Name Verity as both a stand-alone or as an introduction to Verity. I also appreciated the different setting and atmosphere.

Anyway, I LOVED The Pearl Thief. I loved that we got to see Julie in a completely different setting and light. We got to see her without all her trauma and pain. We got to see how she became that brilliant and angry Scotswoman we all fell in love with in Code Name Verity. We finally saw how she became Queenie, a nickname given to her by Ellen, the stubborn and passionate Scottish traveller who initially clashes with Julie, but they slowly grow feelings for each other.

Most people who follow me already know I’m a huge fan of Code Name Verity and Julie Beaufort-Stuart. Her compelling narrative, her cleverness and wit, her stubbornness and anger, and her love and her passion. We see all of this in The Pearl Thief, which is what made it a gripping read. We see Julie develop a lot in The Pearl Thief, we see her learning how to utilise her intelligence, and we see her finding her skill for manipulation, we see her develop new friendships and overcome prejudices. It really does help you appreciate the Verity we knew in Code Name Verity as we see her backstory. I also loved Ellen. She was passionate about archaeology and history, smart and ambitious, and persevered in the face of the hate she received. I enjoyed the insight into both Julie and Ellen’s family histories and how their families go back for generations.

The word bisexual isn’t featured, but Julie does show an interest in both men and women, and her primary love interest is a girl. I loved the exploration of Julie and her sexuality, which is only shown in subtext in Code Name Verity, but also I loved seeing this exploration while also bearing in mind the conservative societal and familial morals and norms of the time period.

Fans of Code Name Verity will no doubt love The Pearl Thief. We get more of an insight and backstory into our beloved Julie and how she became the woman we know and love.

I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
In this YA novel, our 15-year old heroine Julia Beaufort-Stuart (Julie) returns from school to spend one last summer in her late grandfather (the Earl of Strathfearn)’s home before it is sold to pay his debts and death duties. Almost as she returns she finds herself in danger. What follows is a story of a missing person and missing pearls. Julie’s friends the McEwens are a Traveller family who find themselves under suspicion due to local prejudice. Julie feels compelled to solve the mysteries and clear their name.
This is a fun romp in rural Scotland. Julie is a young girl finding herself, trying to work out who she is and who she wants to be. She has made new friends, has a crush on more than one person and has a strong sense of justice. She is confident and fearless. The mystery she has to unravel is a little convoluted but still interesting. In a more serious note it deals with the prejudice facing Traveller communities. All in all a fun but unchallenging read.

Sixteen-year-old Julie Beaufort-Stuart is returning to her grandparent's ancestral home for one last summer, after the death of her grandfather forces the sale of the house and land. This, together with the mysterious disappearance of the family pearls, followed closely by the discovery of a body in the river, leads Julie into a summer of self-discovery. Although The Pearl Thief is being marketed as a 1930s period mystery, in the vein of Agatha Christie, it's so much more than that. Yes, there's a mystery element, but it's less important than the exploration of topics as varied as burgeoning sexuality, disability, anti-traveller prejudice, and privilege. Julie - who could so easily come across as just another poor little rich girl - is instead winningly self-aware and willing to examine her own privilege, and the novel has a beautifully elegiac tone (the more so when you realise it's set in 1938 and that the shadows of war hang over all). A lovely book that will appeal to readers of all ages.

3.5 stars

Although this is by no means a poorly written or uninteresting story, The Pearl Thief simply didn’t grab my attention as much as Code Name Verity – it was nowhere near as complex and intriguing, but that could have been due to the setting of pre-war rural Scotland rather than war-torn Europe. I wouldn’t dissuade anyone who loved Code Name Verity from reading this, but I would suggest that they are prepared for a vastly different story.

The insight into Julie’s life before she becomes Verity is obviously fascinating, and a nice prelude to the events of Code Name Verity, but it fell a little flat to me in comparison. Despite the themes of prejudice and discrimination, and a murder-mystery, all steeped in history, I found the story a little dull. I enjoyed learning about the history surrounding Julie’s family and her relationship with the traveller family, the McEwen’s, but I found that the mystery of the missing employee and subsequent investigations rather boring; I just wasn’t bothered how it all played out.

Code Name Verity was a surprise hit in 2012 not only because of Elizabeth Wein’s original and witty style, but also for the spotlight she placed on rarely seen women contributing to WWII efforts. Verity and Maddie were plucky and brave, and to re-visit Julie (code name Verity) in 1938 was both a delight and a little bit heart-breaking.

It isn’t necessary to have read Code Name Verity before The Pearl Thief. In fact, I read one comment suggesting it might be better to read this new one first. It doesn’t matter, truly. Reading either will send you off to the other (in fact, right now while I write this review, I have my kindle open to Verity and am reliving her adventures and looking for Julie in every line). Just for the purposes of accuracy, there was another companion novel too, Rose Under Fire, published in 2013, and follows another woman pilot captured and imprisoned in a women’s concentration camp. Full disclosure, I haven’t read that one, but its reviews (on GR) are overwhelmingly positive.

The Pearl Thief reads like a period Ms Marple mystery. Julie arrives home early from boarding school, is whacked on the back of the head and spends two days unconscious in hospital waking with few blurry memories. Once back home, she endeavours to figure out what happened to her and why. Set on her Scottish ancestral land, readers soon learn that her family, the Beaufort-Stuarts have lost everything to crippling debt, and this last summer the family are packing up and moving out, while the contractors come in to convert the castle and grounds to a private school. There’s also a library with many items still to catalogue, and a lot of the action and mystery is centered here.

It’s this exploration of the changing times that author Wein handles so beautifully, and so poignantly. At 15, Lady Julia is privileged and very aware of the advantages of her station. Yet, she is not one to lord it over others, demonstrated by her tendency to dress and act like a boy, and her fierce loyalty to the McEwan’s, a family of Scottish travelers, spurred and demonised by the general population. Fortunately, Julie’s whole family understand the long standing traditional co-existence of the travelers and the landowners, and how they both benefit from the arrangement of providing land for the itinerant families while they helped with seasonal work. With the advent of industrialisation and automation, leading to the crumbling breakdown of social classes, we can see it’s the end of an era. We also know that war is on the horizon, although it’s not mentioned once. I am glad Wein doesn’t try to be clever and give any pretentious foreshadowing. Julie lives right in the moment. If anything, she looks back to a time when her grandfather was alive, and her childhood was carefree, and life wasn’t as complicated.

Julie’s interactions with Euan and Ellen McEwan, the travelers who rescue her, comprise the most compelling friendships, but we also meet Mary, the librarian, Julie’s brothers Jamie and Sandy. As with any mystery there are a number of suspects, and Wein makes readers work as she introduces any number of characters, all who add diversity and richness, red herrings and motivations. The story uses expressions and attitudes pertinent to the day, although Julie’s inclination to enjoy kissing both boys and girls seems tres moderne, it totally works. She’s an open-hearted, free-spirit who declares her desire to be bold and daring. She is all that without even trying. She noses around looking for clues, she questions any number of suspects, she manipulates people and circumstances to further her investigations, and never gives up. Does this make her the perfect person to become, oh, maybe a spy? Possibly. Because she’s truly wondrous here.

It’s a grand adventure told by a feisty and clever person. The Pearl Thief is highly recommended for readers who love their stories complex and involving. It’s a historical piece that recreates the time period with accuracy and delight. There’s a longing and nostalgia for a time past, and a lot of talk about connections and lineage, but also a reverence for preserving historical artefacts for the greater good, rather than personal gain or glory. Unsurprisingly, there’s also a certain poignancy for those of us familiar with Code Name Verity.

Copy provided by publisher, via Netgalley and read with thanks. Already out in the US and UK. Coming to Australian and New Zealand on June 1 2017.