09-07-2025
‘The Last Pebble' by Alex Horne: A Book Review
As GeekDad's resident Brit, I often find myself wondering how to explain UK cultural lodestones to a US-skewed audience. I also often find myself reviewing excellent books that are available here in Britain but haven't made it to the US. Both things are true for Alex Horne's The Last Pebble.
Alex Horne is the British comedian (I'm sure I could fill several posts' worth of thoughts about comedians writing books) behind the smash TV sensation Taskmaster . Well, smash on this side of the pond. Here, there have been 19 seasons, and each new season is eagerly anticipated by a host of fans. In the US, it had one season before sinking without a trace. Over here, a book by Alex Horne is likely to garner lots of attention and column inches. Over where many of you are, you're probably asking, 'Alex Who?'
If we forget for a moment that the author is relatively famous (though Horne wears his celebrity lightly), what do we have with The Last Pebble?
It's a generational coming of age(ish) story set in a quiet British seaside town, on the South Coast of England. It follows misfit Trader (arguably a first name more likely to be found in the US than the UK) as he struggles to build friendships in his school. He finds social interactions difficult, but the natural world, in particular, rocks, fascinating.
He is aided and abetted in this fascination by his grandfather, a man who is enlivened by the world around him. He's an inventor and an avid collector of bric-a-brac and ephemera, often disappearing to collect random artefacts found on eBay or in the classifieds.
While out beachcombing one day, Trader finds a special stone. One, his grandad says, they will polish up to release its true majesty. Alongside this, Trader, with a tentative friend, Charlotte, discovers that somebody is leaving messages in bottles on the beach. Is this part of a conspiracy? Can they really be after Trader's mysterious stone?
Despite this being a book about a beloved grandparent and being titled The Last Pebble, nobody dies. I give this up, not as a spoiler, but because I was pretty convinced someone was going to (looking at you, grandad), and I was pleasantly surprised that they didn't. The story is more artful than that.
Trader, Charlotte, and the other children in the story are on the cusp of transition to a new school (which happens in the summer of your 11th birthday in the UK). Their world is filled with possibilities. A time of reinvention as well as anxiety. Horne captures this perfectly.
There is nothing here that will particularly blow you away. It's simply a lovely story about children growing up in a small, non-descript town (non-descript but also at the British seaside, another cultural focal point, especially for childhood memories). The book captures the innocent joy of fossicking amongst the sand and rocks by the sea. The possibility of finding something fascinating or reveling in the beauty of a discovered piece of smoothed glass.
Children's books tend to be either comedic or dramatic these days. The Last Pebble is neither. Or rather, it is both, but very gently. There is a mystery, there are amusing events, but first and foremost, this is a story about the strength of family and the importance of good friends. This is a gentle, thoughtful read, that will appeal to most children and may help them stop to think about the world and people around them.
If you would like to pick up a copy of The Last Pebble , in the UK, you can do so, here (Affiliate Link). I was unable to find a US option for purchasing the book.
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews, here.
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