Pearce Oysters - in the middle of the BP Oil spill brothers Jordan and Benny are at odds at how to proceed. Although that's nothing new. Until last week Jordan hadn't seen his brother in Golden Vale, LA in a long time. Although he's partner in the business that their father left them who continues to receive a paycheck even when times are tight. Their mother, May still struggles with the loss of her husband Al, while accepting her 50's are unlike the earlier days. When Benny arrives home with Kiki, the family, the business and the future are all in question. Fantastic family dynamics amid a national disaster impacting businesses, families and the coastal sea life for years to come.

Not your typical portrait of a family. Rather, this is a family whose very existence is rocked, then slowly unravels in the midst of a manmade crisis as their 100-year-old business set in a coastal Louisiana town, where you can practically feel the heat and humidity, is faced with its undoing and they have some difficult decisions to make. Tragedy and trauma converge, permeating a family, barely hanging on to their business and each other, in this emotional and enlightening story.

At times, I felt like I was reading non-fiction, as this searing tale takes us deep into Golden Vale struck hard by the 2010 British Petroleum oil leek into the Gulf of Mexico wreaking one of the worst environmental disasters, harming the fishing industry and public safety. The Pearce family, dominant oyster farmers, ha- fallen on hard times, now led by Jordan, who took over when their patriarch died suddenly, barely keeping things afloat. His brother Benny was never interested in the business, he’s a struggling musician living in New Orleans, not visiting home as often as their widowed, distraught mother May would like. Nature, once bountiful and now damaged, is both a setting and a character, everyone around her is forced to adjust in varying ways. Even if the Pearces can’t agree about oyster farming, they share common romantic challenges.

A thought-provoking story you can’t easily turn away from with sensitive characters each harboring their own troubles, wondering if they can come together during a crisis. You can’t help but feel angry, angst, and sadness for how the Pearces as well as many others who work as paid laborers beholden to the industry are let down and disregarded by big oil, their existence, which they have given to the bounty of the water, now diminished. PEARCE OYSTERS tackles relevant issues including climate action, migrant workers, healthcare, among others. It is a cautionary eco-tale that speaks to fear for the future and the helplessness to prevent the dangers coming for our climate. It is the fictional Pearce family that allows us to pause, to think about real people behind actual environmental tragedies, that give us hope, perhaps increases our sense of wonder about the natural world and inspires us to take action.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zibby Books for a chance to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.