Tom Lanark, a down-on-his-luck sailor from America could not begin to foresee his trouble when he ends up in Fremantle Gaol, wrongly accused of killing a police constable. English beauty Mary Condon cannot believe her misfortune when she is ostracised from her home country, her family and everything she holds dear after an affair with a married man. Beginning a new life in Western Australia the future seems bleak, that is until a chance meeting with a charming sailor.

Hugh Edwards takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster of a journey and deep into the history of Aboriginal life, British upper-class society, the tradition of Japanese whaling and the gritty reality of the pearling industry which was thriving in the late 19 th century.

The Price of Pearls is a quintessential blend of accurate history and gripping narrative. A stunning debut into fiction by an established and much-loved West Australian author