Pook’s writing is reliably vivid, alternating between dense lyricism and free indirect speech with an old-timey diction. The eventual explanation for Charles’s disappearance is somewhat thin — even Eliza thinks so. But Moonlight is a sensitive and compassionate book, admirable in its engaging synthesis of multiple strands of history. It is alive to the complexity of how things must have been, and its consideration of race, gender and sexuality invigorates the era with a freshness that feels organic ... The novel is shaped around a straightforward mystery plot, which demands attention to the concrete and material. But “Moonlight” feels more interesting when you allow the narrative to play out on the level of the symbolic, when its ideas borrow the hallucinatory quality of the landscape. At its heart, this is a story about family — whether it can survive in an inhospitable environment — and whether it is possible to be a good person in a corrupted world.
With the spirited Eliza at its heart, Pook’s evocative debut novel spins a tale of intrigue and deception with a deft combination of gripping pacing and emotional restraint. Travel writer and journalist Pook’s heightened observational skills are well employed in this lavish tableau showcasing Australia’s vast and exotic natural treasures and fraught history.
... lush ... Though the revelations about Charles’s disappearance feel a bit lackluster after all the adventure, the author offers plenty of sensory details and satisfying character development for Eliza. Overall, Pook casts an intoxicating spell.
... paints a nuanced portrait of the era as the backdrop for a feminist epic ...While the setting for this novel is particularly well developed, the characters often feel a bit flat, and there are many missed opportunities. Eliza’s single-minded drive to save her family because of tragedy in her past feels familiar, and it doesn’t allow Eliza’s character to develop over the course of the book; her romantic relationship with a pearler named Axel barely registers. Pook sets up some intriguing female sidekicks—Eliza’s childhood friend Min, who becomes a prostitute, and deckhand Knife, who disguises herself as a boy—but their stories are not fully explored. For all of Eliza’s resourcefulness, gumption, and guilt, what’s missing is a little vulnerability ... A work of historical fiction whose setting somewhat outweighs its plot.
