Book Blurb:
2019: Lucy awakens in her ex-lover’s room in the middle of the night with her hands around his throat. Horrified, she flees to her sister’s house on the coast of New South Wales hoping Jess can help explain the vivid dreams that preceded the attack—but her sister is missing. As Lucy waits for her return, she starts to unearth strange rumours about Jess’s town—tales of numerous missing men, spread over decades. A baby abandoned in a sea-swept cave. Whispers of women’s voices on the waves. All the while, her dreams start to feel closer than ever. 1800: Mary and Eliza are torn from their loving home in Ireland and forced onto a convict ship heading for Australia. As the boat takes them farther and farther away from all they know, they begin to notice unexplainable changes in their bodies.
My Review: 3.75 stars
The Sirens by Emilia Hart was a deeply engrossing book and at the same time a book in which you must suspend all belief in reality. This is also a fiercely feminist novel that takes place in both the 1800s and in 2019.
The 1800s timeline features sixteen-year-old twin sisters who see a ship coming ashore with a mermaid prow. This is pivotal to the plot that ensues. When one of the sisters is assaulted, the other hits the attacker with a rock and kills him, which leads them to being transported on a ship to New South Wales.
On the flip, sixteen-year-old Lucy in the more current timeline, finds her sister Jess’s diary and soon realizes how different she is than her parents or sister. She has rare medical issue that makes her skin peel from water. Much more about her condition is explored and just wow!!
The two timelines come together in a unique and satisfying way. Themes of strong female connections, family dynamics, sibling protection and art as a way to express oneself are woven through the story. I was gifted an audio copy from Macmillan Audio and really enjoyed the narrator’s voice.
This one is definitely different from what I’d usually read and I’m super thankful that I did. Fantasy readers will totally love this one; I’d call it fantasy light. Enjoy.
Quotes I liked:
It was the water that protected me. It’s the water that makes us strong.”
“Most people just want an easy life. It’s unsettling when someone starts pulling apart the stories we’ve stitched together, the things we tell ourselves for comfort.”
“Capture. It’s the perfect word, isn’t it? You paint someone and it’s like you own them, like you’ve taken their soul from their body and put it right there on the canvas.”
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