The Pull of the Moon by Pip Smith

Title: The Pull of the Moon

Author: Pip Smith

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: UWA Publishing

Published: 2^nd June 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 280

Price: $26.99

Synopsis: Coralie threw the life jackets one by one, as hard as she could, and watched them catch on the wind and blow into the sea.

Coralie is thirteen years old and lives on Christmas Island, where sea birds circle the sky and the seasons are marked by the migratory patterns of crabs. But life on the island isn’t always paradise.

During a fierce tropical storm, a fishing boat carrying eighty-nine asylum seekers crashes into the island’s cliffs. Coralie locks eyes with Ali, an eleven-year-old Iranian boy, as his mother pulls her life jacket over his head. But soon Ali disappears beneath the waves and when his body isn’t recovered, Coralie resolves to do everything she can to find him.

Pip Smith’s The Pull of the Moon explores what happens when the urge to help collides with the unfathomable uncertainty of loss.

~*~

The early 2000s were fraught with political fighting about refugees and boat people. The post-9/11 decade saw refugees placed in detention centres on Christmas Island. But people already lived here, and their lives were impacted by what happened and the things they saw and heard. Coralie is thirteen, and lives on the island with her mum, an environmental researcher, and her father, who deals with the boat people and rescues. One day in 2010 when Coralie is thirteen, a boat carrying 89 refugees crashes. 20 people are saved, and many more are found dead, whilst just as many are never found.

Coralie catches the eye of a young boy, Ali, during the tropical storm that destroys the boat and his family. Coralie is determined to find him, to reunite him with his sister. Her own family is fracturing, her parents are both dealing with mental health issues, job issues, and not knowing where they are going in life. Coralie feels like she’s alone with no friends, and she doesn’t really fit in that much. But there’s more than that. She wants to help, she’s determined to prove to the workers who come in from the mainland that the refugees need help, that there are nuances that people ignore. Because she’s seen what is really going on, and has heard her parents fighting about it, Coralie feels her loyalties torn.

It goes deeper than that though, because The Pull of the Moon navigates the uncertainties of the world at the start of the twenty-first century, and what happens when loss and the desire to help collide in unfathomable ways. There’s a lot to navigate and learn from this book, where we get to get a glimpse into what drives people like Ali’s family to take a boat across treacherous waters, what forces people into such positions. Pip spoke to sensitivity readers to make this work, and it sheds a light on the misconceptions the media sells people, and that it perpetuates. I felt it just proved that we don’t know all the ins and outs of everything, and that there are people out there who would have witnessed the tragedy this book is based on. It’s a story that is driven by the phases of the moon, where everything feels like it moves too slowly. Where the answers aren’t easy.

Focusing on this issue allows the novel to explore the nuances of a complex issue through the eyes of a teenager who witnessed the tragedy and dealt with the trauma of seeing it and dealing with her family falling apart. It’s an overt trauma too. The adults around Coralie think she’s too young to help, too young to understand. But children understand more than we realise and when confronted directly with a tragedy like this, it shows that people can be impacted in different ways. Ali’s role in the story felt ethereal, as though he was there but at the same time, not really there. Coralie’s determination to find Ali and to find out what happened to him is palpable, and drives the novel with its childlike hope and wonder that someone has survived. And maybe he did.

It’s a heartfelt story, one that allows the nuances of refugees to be explored, particularly through the eyes of the people who lived on Christmas Island. The effects that it had oh the community and the people who were involved in the rescue. I think this novel was delicately told, and it is well worth reading Pip’s author notes at the back. It gives deep insight into the story and the inspiration behind the book. This is a touching book, one that evokes a sense of time and place. It reminded me of what it was like during those days, hearing the dialogue around the issue and the prevalent views that dominated the media. It’s a book that shows everyone – regardless of their age or where they came from – has a voice they can use to be heard. That everyone deserves to have their story heard. We can be safe whilst also being compassionate. There are always going to be divisive issues like refugees that dominate dialogues. And it is important to try and understand why these people might have put their lives in danger. What they might be talked into or forced to do just to make it to safety. And how there will always be people who take advantage of vulnerable people in the world.

This is a powerful story that reminds readers about humanity and the desire to help people. And most importantly, how we can help when we feel helpless, and accepting changes that we can’t control. It’s a novel filled with layers that I think readers of all ages over twelve will get something out of.