Charlie and Pearl

'You know how sometimes, you have these moments when everything in your life just falls into place in one perfect moment and you look around and think, this is it; this is what life is about, this exact, perfect moment in life that I'm living right now. You may not be rich, or have a job you love. But something in your life, your family, a friend, your dog who loves you unconditionally, or your partner/wife/husband/lover, something or someone just occasionally breaks through the stresses of the everyday bullshit and makes you stop and smile and think....oh yes. This, this moment right here, is what it's all about. That's how I felt every second of every minute when I was with Pearl. She is the stars, the sun, and the moon. The butterflies, the rainbows, the puppies, the music, the chocolate, the soft cushions, spring flowers. The jacket that keeps you warm on a cold winter's day. She is everything that is beautiful in this world.' Charlie is exactly the kind of guy dads want their daughters to bring home. Reliable, loyal and devastatingly sweet, any girl would be lucky to have him. Or so his mum frequently says. In the small coastal New Zealand town where he was born and grew up though, love has so far managed to elude him, and he passes his days behind the counter of the local bookshop working for a boss suffering from the early onslaught of dementia. Then fiery Pearl blows into the bay, nursing a broken heart and a tragic secret. She's determined to see out the winter in her Grandmothers run down beach house, with nothing but wine and the cry of gulls to disturb her solitude. Their paths cross after she falls asleep in the bookshop, and their resulting love will devastate a town and leave no one untouched. Charlie and Pearl is a story of unconventional love; of finding that spare part you never knew you were missing, and of what happens when love is simply not enough.