Let me begin by saying I was the lone voice in my club that did not enjoy this book. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher is an older book that was very popular when it was written in 1984. It is a “big fat novel for women.” Think of the Thornbirds and you get a feeling for the tenor of this book about a dysfunctional family and the people who come into their lives. The main character, Penelope, is the only child of a once famous artist who grew up in a very Bohemian household where mother was a bit of a gypsy, father was older and very open in his thinking. Add into this extended family member like war widows and renters who never moved out and you see life of this young girl. As with many “love stories” of this genre, Penelope makes a huge mistake when she married a spoiled soldier who wants her fathers fashionable car more than her. Three less than lovable children later and a life filled with hard work and strife because of divorce and abandonment, Penelope finds herself with a life altering heart condition and one very valuable painting of herself as a child that her father painted called The Shell Seekers. As is often the case, money and inheritance become the focus for the adult children while memories of her one true love who was lost in the war move Penelope toward difficult but predictable denouement. As I said, I found this novel difficult mainly because the family characters where really difficult and for the most part unlikeable. There was a “happy ever after” ending in a way, but getting there did not balance the angst of the plot line for me.
