Description

Rollrock is an isolated, windswept island; a wild and salty landscape where fishermen and their families must wring a living from the stormy seas. But Rollrock is also a place of eerie magic, and of powerful desire.

Down on the beach, the outcast witch of Rollrock casts her spells, and draws mysterious girls from the sea. These are girls with long, pale limbs and faces of haunting innocence – the most enchantingly beautiful creatures the fishermen of Rollrock have ever seen.

The island is envied, and many a man is lured to Rollrock with the promise of a sea wife. But the arrival of these women is the ruin of countless families – and to the despair of the men of Rollrock, magic always has its price. The brides do not belong on land. One day, the sea will claim them back.

Publisher Review

"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 *