A passionate, mesmerizing tale of haunting sea magic from the author of Tender Morsels.
Margo Lanagan's novels and short story collections have excited
readers the world over, and won many prizes, including four World
Fantasy Awards - for 'Singing My Sister Down' (Best Short Fiction,
2005), Black Juice (Best Collection, 2005), Tender Morsels (Best
Novel, 2009), and Sea-Hearts (Best Novella, 2010).
She lives in Sydney, Australia.
Outstanding . . . Margo Lanagan is a writer whose violently sexy
reworkings of Grimm have previously been more for teenagers, but
her new book stays within the allusive fairy tale tropes and will
enthrall readers of 11+. Nothing is predictable in this astonishing
novel, which expands on classic tales about selkie brides with
unsettling imaginative thoroughness
*The Times*
Lanagan's prose is always a joy . . . she shows writing of the
highest order: subtle, powerful, poetic
*Guardian*
Margo Lanagan’s writing is dangerously beautiful; it knows how to
dance, and it knows how to fight
*Mal Peet*
Powerful, beautiful, dangerous, unsettling, truthful, earthy,
challenging, poetic, wonderful, absorbing. I can't recommend it
highly enough. Margo Lanagan has a unique, uncompromising and
lyrical voice and she brings it to the folk myth of selkies in a
soaring journey of passion and pain . . . Read this selkie novel.
It's heartstoppingly gorgeous. And you won't find anyone else with
a voice like Margo's. Five stars
*The Bookbag*
Atmospheric, moving and rich in detail.
*Fluttering Butterflies*
Outstanding . . . Margo Lanagan is a writer whose violently sexy
reworkings of Grimm have previously been more for teenagers, but
her new book stays within the allusive fairy tale tropes and will
enthrall readers of 11+. Nothing is predictable in this astonishing
novel, which expands on classic tales about selkie brides with
unsettling imaginative thoroughness -- Amanda Craig * The Times
*
Lanagan's prose is always a joy . . . she shows writing of the
highest order: subtle, powerful, poetic -- Marcus Sedgwick *
Guardian *
Margo Lanagan's writing is dangerously beautiful; it knows how to
dance, and it knows how to fight -- Mal Peet
Powerful, beautiful, dangerous, unsettling, truthful, earthy,
challenging, poetic, wonderful, absorbing. I can't recommend it
highly enough. Margo Lanagan has a unique, uncompromising and
lyrical voice and she brings it to the folk myth of selkies in a
soaring journey of passion and pain . . . Read this selkie novel.
It's heartstoppingly gorgeous. And you won't find anyone else with
a voice like Margo's. Five stars * The Bookbag *
Atmospheric, moving and rich in detail. * Fluttering Butterflies *
Gr 8 Up-Misskaella Prout, the baby of the family, was born on a craggy, seal-covered island, when "there were no looks left for Prout girls." She is resentful of the boys who can't see past her lumpish form, and when she discovers she has a magical ability to cause human figures to step out of the bodies of seals, she calls forth a lover and finds herself with child. Over the years, she draws forth beautiful black-haired women, bought for a dear price by island men eager for wives. Now known as a witch, she can afford to buy the biggest house on the island, but finds herself no closer to happiness. The seal coats are hidden away, trapping the selkies in human form, where they create discontented families and bear half-enchanted sons. The story follows several generations, primarily those of Misskaella (who ages very slowly) and the Mallett family. When several sons unite to steal back the seal coats, the mams weave seaweed blankets and wrap their sons, so all can transform into seals together, leaving the human men behind. The men are not all bad, and one of them wonders occasionally why the women don't take a bit more charge of their own fate. Lanagan's writing is undeniably gorgeous. Her phrases and pacing almost demand that readers stop and admire their beauty. Many high school readers may not be ready to look past a plot of lumpen, unpopular misfits, and dark choices wrongly made. Encourage them to read for the richness of the language, and they may find the plot will grow on them. A natural audience would be readers who enjoyed the literary qualities of Christina Meldrum's Madapple (Knopf, 2008), Franny Billingsley's Chime (Dial, 2010), and E. Annie Proulx's The Shipping News (Scribner, 1999).-Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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