Wow, this was long. Too long. I bought the audiobook a while back when Chirp offered it on sale, and when I saw that Haley Atwell narrated it, I was sold. Atwell is a British actress, and her voice was spot-on perfect for this story. I loved her performance. I wish I could say the same for the story.

The positives:

This book feels luxurious and lush, so if you want to revel in sights, sounds, smells, and textures, this book delivers big-time. The descriptions suck you in, and before you know it, you’re physically experiencing another time and place. This is Pilcher’s strength, nay, superpower. She is a gorgeous writer. The protagonist, Penelope, even discusses the concept of “luxury” near the end of the book, and there’s this thematic question of luxury vs. comfort vs. privation, both physically and emotionally, and this was a discussion that I can appreciate.

The book is character-driven, and there is a colorful mix of characters. By far, the best mix is Penelope and her adult children, with whom she doesn’t connect. This discord makes the scenes between Penelope and her kids the best of the book. It seems like everyone else gets along too well…sees things similarly…and this was too serene for so long a book. For example, when Penelope discovers she’s going to have a baby out of wedlock, everyone in her life is incredibly supportive. It would’ve been much more interesting if someone, anyone, had put up some fireworks—at least there would’ve opened the door for a nuanced picture of Penelope’s predicament. But overall, the characters are good.

The negatives:

There are so many intertwining storylines that it’s hard to know what you’re supposed to care about. This book reminds me of Anna Karenina—a deep dive into the interpersonal relationships and inner lives of a handful of people at a specific place and time in history. That’s exactly what The Shell Seekers is. But, like Anna Karenina, the plot is meandering and slow. Pilcher slows WAY down, describing things in such minute detail that I got distracted and a little impatient. Why does this matter? She’s moving so slowly, it’s got to have some significance…but it doesn’t.

Also, this is an adultery story. I cannot express how much I dislike adultery stories. And this one largely condones the adultery. Most of the characters give the adulterous relationship a huge thumbs-up. This robbed the story of the conflict inherent in such morally fraught actions, nor does it challenge the reader to think about something like adultery from many angles (like Anna Karenina does).

At the end of the day, what frustrated me most was that I couldn’t condone the morals that the story praises, by and large. The writing is 5 stars, but the story was much more like 2, which evens out to three. So, there you go.

Content warnings: Characters commit adultery and have sex outside of marriage, and this is largely condoned. Nothing is graphically portrayed, and the romance is tastefully written, but morally disappointing.