Can true love be found immersed in an aquarium somewhere on the Nullarbor Plain?
In this magical realism romp, impulsive, budding artist, Pearl, jumps on a bus headed for the driest place she knows, Australia’s Nullarbor Plain, to escape a terrifying undersea curse, only to find it waiting for her in a fish tank when she arrives.
In her Aunty’s derelict roadhouse, she amuses and outrages the local misfits by seeing their hidden traumas in watery visions – which she paints.
Eddie, a hot, young windmill repairer, shows romantic interest, but soon must vie for this amazing artist’s attention with intense Italian cave diver, Massimo.
Tempting as these intimate offers may be, Pearl can’t go there, not while this family-seeing curse is ruining her life . . . unless it’s a gift? Just in case it is, Pearl risks her life in this magical realistic adventure to solve the mystery that has plagued all the women in her line, starting with her long-dead Great-Grandma Pearl.
Check out the book trailer (based on an earlier concept set in the Pilbara region of Western Australia).
Finalist in TWO categories of the prestigious Eric Hoffer Awards!
Buy the book or eBook and we’ll send you a link to a private viewing of the short film on YouTube!
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) –
One one level, Nullarbor Pearl keeps it real as a young woman’s quest to return to the nostalgic Outback of her birth, where she meets whimsical characters drawn with wry humour. This coming of age road trip soon transforms into a compelling magic realist fable for all ages that is very hard to put down . . . a MUST read.
– Malcolm Fiahlo, Leisure Activist
Wayne Brown – Life Alignment Specialist –
I am not a professional critic, however, I do enjoy a good story and Nullarbor Pearl is a very good story. I was engrossed in the narrative and it was very much a “Can’t put it down” read. I finished it in two and a half days. I enjoyed the characters, the little world that they inhabit and I loved the twists that actually made me gasp out loud. If this is indicative of how well Sarah will write future books, I am lining up for the next one. Do yourself a favour and grab this book. I’m going back for a re-read.
– Wayne Brown, Life Alignment Specialist
IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd) –
Most of us connect magical realism with the lushness of tropical Latin America, especially in the works of the great Gabriel Garcia Marquez. But the genre knows no borders, and finds its way in Sarah Rossetti’s often-dazzling new novel to land slap-bang in the aridness of the Nullarbor Plain. Dust and flies are hardly the stuff of imaginary worlds, so with all the literary confidence of a born diviner, Rossetti places water at the heart of the story.
In doing so, she follows examples by two of Australia’s most successful writers: Tim Winton’s Breath and Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe, both of whom embrace the hybrid ground that increasingly traverses young adult and adult fiction. As those works did, Rossetti’s imagined world – filled with a diverse range of fascinating characters – deserves to make its way onto the screen as a fully-realised movie. (The novel began as a lengthy poem, also called “Nullarbor Pearl”, metamorphosised into a short film, Pilbara Pearl, before returning to the Nullarbor fiction setting.)
When eighteen-year-old Pearl decides to uproot from her claustrophobic, troubled existence in Perth, abandoned by her father and dismissed by her mother, she heads east into the endless unknown – a journey that immediately brings to mind two literary/cinematic tropes, the road movie and the vastness of the Outback. She’s on a bus when she meets Eddie, a young knockabout drifter who spends his life fixing windmills. Pearl is Indigenous, Eddie is White. There’s a spark of course to get things rolling, but Eddie is the pragmatist and Pearl’s apparently the dreamer. (Themes of identity and reconciliation run like aquifers beneath the novel’s surface, even more notably in the wake of the failed Voice referendum.) Into the picture steps, or rides on his motorbike, the Italian cave diver Massimo: the love interest splits three ways, and who get the girl?
Possibly no-one, because Pearl is on a greater quest: to shake off a family curse.
This is where the magical realism takes off. Stopping at her aunt’s rundown highway roadhouse, Pearl becomes fascinated by a fish tank. It’s nothing special to the rest of us, but for Pearl it’s another world, which she enters simply by dunking her head fully into the tank, holding her breath as long as possible, and navigating an aquatic expanse that opens endless vistas of possibilities and danger. Perhaps the tank offers a chance to solve the mystery that has plagued all the women in her line, starting with her Great-Grandma Pearl. As a literary device it’s effective, and convincing – swiftly switched worlds that match Pearl’s own dichotomies about her family past and own future. How long can she keep her head underwater? One minute, two minutes? How long do you need to find the answer that will take you forward on the highway of life?
With a snappy tongue, Pearl comes alive as the novel’s main character: she’s tough but not aggressive, sensitive to the world around her, but determined to find the answers she seeks. ‘Do what you like,’ someone says to her. ‘You always do.’ An elliptical narrative filled with big ideas under the cover of Australian slang and colloquialisms, Nullarbor Pearl mixes magic and harsh Outback realities, gritty dialogue and ethereal visions to produce a must-read for young adults and adult readers alike.
5 Stars!
– Tony Maniaty, author and Weekend Australian reviewer
Matheos Vandoros – businessman in retirement. –
Nullarbor Pearl is a fascinating cinematic visualisation experience. An delightful amalgam of earthiness, spiritualism and the sophistication of polyculturalism. Brava Dr Sarah Rossetti!
– Matheos Vandoros, businessman in retirement.
Catherine Fischer –
An ideal book club read: intriguing, pacy, a voyage of discovery. Don’t miss it!
– Catherine Fischer, Retiree
Rita La Bianca –
Nullarbor Pearl is a great read about a talented teenage artist who is blissfully unaware of her ability to “see” and her cultural background.
Her colourful journey from Coogee Beach to the Nullarbor Plain, the characters she meets along the way and the eventual outcome are testament to Rossetti’s ability to spin a compelling story that takes the reader into the “depths” of mysticism and realism.
– Rita La Bianca, Writer
Cathy Brown –
This book is enormously entertaining, as it operates on a number of levels and makes an intriguing and entertaining read. As the story unfolds, Pearl develops into an accidental healer, using the fish tank as a portal to access her powerful subconscious mind and releases blockages which have hampered her personal development. A must read!
– Cathy Brown, Author, Hypnotherapist and Life Coach
Matheos Vandoros –
In this novel the stage is set for the reader to enjoy a great read, but also feel the jolt to the senses, an awakening to a deep-seated socio-racial and cultural reality. The immigrant in me reads Nullarbor Pearl at least twice. A novel that re-kindles the immigrant’s sense of adventure, cultural curiosity and struggle with a never ending search for solutions – outcomes. This novel is relatable to whomever cares about the when, the why, the now and the how. I found Dr Sarah Rossetti’s menu of “food for thought” novel a blend of pragmatism and subjectivity, a cocktail of emotions that resolves a living pulsating provocation to the citizenry. In this novel, European culture is a protagonist also, the a living evolving, impure Yanush, receiving and giving, not as an assimilated stagnant one with rigid walls built around him like an impenetrable fortress. I highly recommend this book to all immigrants, particularly in urban areas where human congestion festers an epidemic of alienation. What is next Dr Sarah Rossetti? Something as evocative I hope!
Valery Niazov –
A wondrous tale, symphonic in its magical realist contrasts. A mesmerising blend of intoxicating desert life imbued with artistic and aquatic imagination.
– Valery Niazov, Composer
Jo Keeling –
Dr. Sarah Rossetti’s debut novel, Nullarbor Pearl enables white Australians to enter the world of our First Nation’s People, to gain some insight and much needed understanding of their culture, at last. Firstly, it entertains us, then intrigues us, delivering in a unique vision, gorgeous images and a captivating plot. Finally, a novel which transports us through superbly garnered language to broaden the meaning of what it means to be Australian. A superbly engaging bookclub read and an ideal text for the high school curriculum, as it will prompt debate and is suitable for young and old. We await more of your unique novels, Dr. Rossetti.
– Jo Keeling, Entrepreneur
Col Thompson –
Loved this Nullarbor romp with Pearl. It’s got everything. Red dust, mysterious sliding doors, fast cars very interesting characters and a generous amount of boy-girl stuff. Don’t miss it.
– Col Thompson
laurence De Pledge –
What an amazing book full of fallible outback characters the Author has cunningly brought to life. There’s the clash of vastly different love interest for punchy Pearl who is risking her life to solve the mystery of her existence. I don’t read many novels, but this one grabbed me… Hard to put down once starting.
– Laurence De Pledge
Mark Rouse –
With the World currently facing so many harsh realities, the timing of this delightful story, with such charming escapism, is very welcome. It is also lovely to read a story that embraces our own Australian setting and culture as a backdrop. Mark Rouse – Writer.
Malcolm Fiahlo, Leisure Activist –
On one level, Nullarbor Pearl keeps it real as a young woman’s quest to return to the nostalgic Outback of her birth, where she meets whimsical characters, drawn with wry humour. This coming of age road trip soon transforms into a compelling magic realist fable for all ages that is very hard to put down . . . a MUST read.
Maria De Cinque –
Nullarbor Pearl captivated me from the first page. It seamlessly blends reality and magic, taking me on a journey through the vast Australian Outback alongside Pearl, a character whose strength and vulnerability resonated deeply with me. Dr. Sarah Rossetti’s storytelling prowess kept me hooked until the very end, leaving me both breathless and eager for more. An unforgettable read that tugs at the heartstrings and expands the boundaries of the imagination. Highly recommended!
– Maria De Cinque, Theta Healing Therapist
Gian Tentori –
Nullarbor Pearl: Magical realism? Romantic fantasy? A masterpiece tale of psychic emotions? All of the above? When I read this story, I remembered living between two worlds in my own life, like Massimo in the novel: the immense, dry desert around Coober Pedy, where I started my Australian journey, and old Venezia in Italy, where I am from, along with the Perth suburbs where I now live. The novel awoke almost forgotten deep emotional feelings inside me: the wonder of a new comer from the old world, and – like Pearl – the spiritual links with my ancestors, the feel of the hot, dry air and solitude of the Coober Pedy landscape: it’s immersive reading that resonates with one’s own experience… Yes, Sarah Rossetti’s ability to create landscapes, situations and characters so close to real life, yet fascinatingly within the psychic approaches of magical realism makes this novel a joy to read.
– Gian Tentori – Retired Structural Engineer
Claire Fermo –
I am totally in love with this novel. It’s amazing to be part of it as the voice of the audio book, because I didn’t know my Indigenous heritage until I was in my twenties, when I got reconnected with my mob. . . So, the story rings true to my experience of what it’s like to come late to Culture. Pearl’s a fascinating, fearless heroine in this deadly yarn for young and old alike. She wakes up the seer and healer in me too.
– Claire Fermo – Actor and voice of Nullarbor Pearl audio book.
Steve Hawke –
Nullarbor Pearl is a brave feat of imagination, taking us to a little known landscape, and an unfamiliar mindscape. Sarah Rossetti’s Nullarbor epic is a one off. All credit to her.
– Steve Hawke, Author
Ken Kelso –
Rossetti’s tale is beautifully written. Its provocative drawing together contemporary and much needed relevance of first nation wisdom with a young woman’s hard won realisation of her purpose across two cultures is a fine invitation to any reader – especially young adults – to feel more connected to the country that sustains us all.
Through the tough but lively personal odyssey of Pearl to her birth country of Oondiri (Nullarbor) Dr. Sarah Rossetti draws up hidden and vivifying water in a story of unsentimental reconciliation and acknowledgement that gives truly relevant form – but here in our great Southern Land – to the Bard’s “There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.
– Ken Kelso, Writer
Margaret Frodsham –
If magical realism is making the magical seem true, then ‘Nullarbor Pearl’ is a fine example. The reader actually gets to see all that Pearl sees in the watery world of the fish tank! The fact that the story began with a poem is reflected in the poignance and intelligence of the language. It is interesting to read some First Nations stories to gain some understanding of their meaning. The characterization is so good, it is easy for the reader to get to know and understand the characters. I loved the ending!