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Sea Hearts

Margo Lanagan (Goodreads Author)

3.68 · Rating details · 4,033 ratings · 905 reviews

'Why would I? People are uneasy enough with me - if I start bringing up sea-wives, they'll take against me good and proper.'
'It could be secret.'
'Could it?'

On remote Rollrock Island, the sea-witch Misskaella discovers she can draw a girl from the heart of a seal. So, for a price, any man might buy himself a bride; an irresistibly enchanting sea-wife. But what cost will be ...more

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Paperback, 343 pages

Published February 1st 2012 by Allen & Unwin (first published January 1st 2009)

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Oct 14, 2018 Amalia Gavea rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Amalia by: Marina

Shelves: 19th-century, fantasy, favorites, young-adult, fairy-tales, folklore, historical-fiction, magical-realism, australian-literature, myths-legends

‘’Rollrock is a lonely island of cliffs and storms, blunt fishermen and their fierce wives. Life is hard for the families who must wring a poor living from the stormy seas. But Rollrock is also a place of magic.’’

When I read (and adored) Kirsty Logan’s The Gloaming, my dear friend Marina recommended Margo Lanagan’s The Brides of Rollrock Island because she knows how much I love myths, islands, and selkies. I can honestly say (one more time) that Marina knows me frighteningly well. If you love ...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Stacia (the 2010 club) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Stacia (the 2010 club) by: Buddy read w/Joan, Rebecca, Amanda and Crystal

Shelves: hybrid-multiple-genre, fairytale-or-classic-retelling, general-fantasy-and-mythology, magical-realism, casters-or-witches, new-adult-college, extremely-unique

If you have any expectations of what this book will be like based on the cover, throw them away. You won't find a dreamy, romantic, fairy-tale retelling here.

It's more like this type of crazy business going on...

Recipe for a twisted, dark fairy tale :

1. One crazy witch
2. Stupid men who think with the wrong head
3. Seals (I'm being serious, the actual sea creatures)
4. Blank-eyed women who are willing to serve their men Stepford-Wife style.

Confused yet? Trust me, I was confused for the first ...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Catie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012, ya, for-review, fantasy

There’s no question in my mind that this book is brilliantly written. I’ve been consistently impressed and moved by Margo Lanagan’s prose since my first experience with her work a few years ago and this book does not disappoint in that regard. However, and this will actually be a positive for many readers – this book is far more tame and accessible than Tender Morsels. It’s even more accessible than the short story of hers that I read in Zombies vs. Unicorns last year. And that’s not to say that ...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Reynje rated it really liked it

4.5 stars

”Was she beautiful, the sea-maid? Fair strange, Doris had said, and I thought that was a fine assessment.

Fair strange. I think that’s a fine assessment of Sea Hearts too: beautiful in, or for, its unusualness.

It’s proving extremely difficult to review Sea Hearts (titled The Brides of Rollrock Island in the US) in isolation, and not hold it up against Lanagan’s previous novel, Tender Morsels. Though I read the latter earlier this year, I still haven’t been able to wrangle my thoughts ...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Keertana rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-galley-and-first-reads, beautiful-prose, books-that-linger, kick-ass-heroines, aussie

The Brides of Rollrock Island is one of those novels that left me with the thought that there is no possible word in the English language that could even attempt to summon up the strange, ethereal, and mystifying experience that is chronicled in this book. As my first venture into Lanagan’s world, I have to admit that Brides simply blew me away, leaving me utterly breathless. It is a slow, intriguing tale that often reminded me of Darwin’s An Origin of Species, since, in many ways, Lanagan seems ...more

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Oct 06, 2012 Anne rated it did not like it · review of another edition

The back of the book says we see the deepest of human cruelty, but also of love. Wrong: there is no love in this book.

If you like the last episode of Twin Peaks, you'll like this book. That's not exactly a good thing. This novel takes 'cerebral' to a whole other degree.

First off there's a difference between throwing your reader into a novel's world no holds-bar and throwing a reader into a world and not caring if they understand what on earth is going on. Only half way through the book will you The back of the book says we see the deepest of human cruelty, but also of love. Wrong: there is no love in this book.

If you like the last episode of Twin Peaks, you'll like this book. That's not exactly a good thing. This novel takes 'cerebral' to a whole other degree.

First off there's a difference between throwing your reader into a novel's world no holds-bar and throwing a reader into a world and not caring if they understand what on earth is going on. Only half way through the book will you begin to even become comfortable in the world, about 200 or so pages in, which is not a good thing. Not that I don't mind books not having a layman character that I can relate to in ignorance of what's going on, but I would like some explanation of what the hell is going on.

You basically shouldn't read the first chapter of the book. There's no purpose to it, in all honesty. The language, the actions of the characters have no impact on the story and serves only to confuse the reader.

As for the rest of the novel...it builds up...sort of, and has no real climax. Like a meal of rice and milk, there's no flavor besides the novelty of the world. Men can pay a witch to bring women out of seals that are beautiful and magical. They all fall in love with them and kidnap them to their houses driving their real women away form the island because their husband/fiancees/sons are resorting to affairs and adultery to have these seal-women. The witch does this because everyone on the island was a horrible human being anyway, so this is her revenge because the seal women are depressed to be away from the sea even as they have children with their new husbands.

That's the book. There's nothing else to the story, and there are no likable characters. There are character's you feel bad for and you want to see victorious, but they are, in the end, either corrupted or loose. At one point you think a male character who will resist the witch, but no. He fails too.

The author seems to just loathe men. And while I'm against man-hating posing as feminism which permeates through literature like wild fire, I find it insulting that the men of this island get no punishment. Oh, after the "climax" they feel sad, sure. But that's it. They're free to go on with their lives. I can see where sorrow could be enough of a punishment, but the author is too focused on her flowered language and imagery to actually portray some kind of human emotion.

That's really all it is, pretty without emotion. The language is lovely, and reading it is like eating candy, but it makes to sick after a while when you try and clutch for some sort of plot or reason to keep reading.

This is my first novel by this author, and while I like her writing style I'm hesitant to read another by her, award winning or not. ...more

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Dec 03, 2011 Heidi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-favorites, wonders-from-down-under, yackers, some-messed-up-sh-t, monster-mash

4.5 Stars

Melancholy. If I had to capture Margo Lanagan’s The Brides of Rollrock Island in one word, melancholy would be the one. Melancholy is sad, but also thoughtful; beautiful and heartbreaking–as was this tale. The Brides of Rollrock Island isn’t a streamlined book. Told from six varying points of view our tale begins in the middle, reverses to the beginning, and moves forward to the end with a motion that indicates that this is a story that has happened before, and one that can happen 4.5 Stars

Melancholy. If I had to capture Margo Lanagan’s The Brides of Rollrock Island in one word, melancholy would be the one. Melancholy is sad, but also thoughtful; beautiful and heartbreaking–as was this tale. The Brides of Rollrock Island isn’t a streamlined book. Told from six varying points of view our tale begins in the middle, reverses to the beginning, and moves forward to the end with a motion that indicates that this is a story that has happened before, and one that can happen again. The age old adage that history is doomed to repeat itself is ever present in Lanagan’s book–we know roughly what will happen because it has all happened before, and we end with the unshakable knowledge that it is only a matter of time before events take a similar course once again.

The Brides of Rollrock Island is a book with no heroes or villains, it is a book where every man, woman, and child falls victim to their humanity or lack thereof. Who do we point fingers at? Who do we blame when things go wrong? The answer is complicated beyond our ability to grasp when we see clearly each sides’ motivations. The men of Rollrock cannot help but be bewitched and enraptured by the seal women who come to shore, the selkies cannot help bewitching or having hearts ever torn between the sea and the men they love, and how can we blame a woman who has endured many cruelties for dooming others to share what touch of happiness she has known?

If it seems as if this is another review where I will talk little of the story and much of the atmosphere, you are correct. I firmly believe it is best for readers to open The Brides of Rollrock Island with a mystery hanging over their head, knowing only that it will be breathtaking, but there are some details I will share. The Brides of Rollrock Island has a haunting and sad air about it, much like a Gothic novel, and while one could impose its time as early 20th century, the story also remains timeless in a manner that is rarely captured. The island of Rollrock itself embodies the notion of setting as character with a spirit, personality, and story of its own. It will make you long to breathe salt in the air, spend your days on rocky shores, and gaze into the sad, dark eyes of wild creatures.

One of the most unique aspects of The Brides of Rollrock Island is the way it tells a very adult story through the eyes of children and young adults. Each narration in the book is from the eyes of a child or young adult, and as they age into adulthood we stumble into the point of view of another, learning to see the island and its people in new ways. Creating the perfect crossover story, Lanagan has written a tale that will captivate young and old alike with an ebb and flow of characters that matches the ever changing sea itself. Our characters grow, our views of them morph from pity to understanding to admiration to scorn as we experience The Brides of Rollrock Island from nearly all angles.

Nearly, I say, because there is one point of view that remains elusive–that of the sea brides themselves. I actually didn’t realize this upon reading, until it was pointed out to me by Catie in her review. I’ve decided, however, that this is not a point of complaint for me. I actually kind of love that while we are given a small glimpse of their souls, the selkie women remain largely mysterious and otherworldly. As humans, we so often need human (or part human) narrators to understand those creatures of myth, and The Brides of Rollrock Island is no exception. I would love to understand the sea wives, but in the end I’m not sure that would be fair to them. Their men, children, and those who lived elsewhere certainly never fully understood these women, so who am I to do so?

Margo Lanagan’s The Brides of Rollrock Island is a stunning and beautiful work of fantasy, one that is as cold as it is rich, and as lyrical as it is cruel. It was one of my most anticipated reads of 2012, and it did not disappoint–on the contrary–it exceeded all possible expectations and has been one of my favorite reads this year. I had intended to read this one as a read along with Jen and Heather, but alas, real life (and hurricanes) got in our way and we never really aligned–still, it’s a wonderful work I’m looking forward to discussing now that we’ve finished!

Original review posted at Bunbury in the Stacks. ...more

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Aug 20, 2011 Steph Su rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: aussie-nz-lit, best-of-12

When you read a Margo Lanagan book, you expect it to both confuse and enthrall you. And THE BRIDES OF ROLLROCK ISLAND delivers that head-spinning, gut-churning, fizzy-brained mixture of “what in the world is going on?” and “did she really go there?” and “oh my goodness she is a genius.”

You can read THE BRIDES OF ROLLROCK ISLAND as a nontraditionally narrated snapshot of an island’s history, with no straightforward plot and no answers to what’s right or what’s wrong in this world. That’ll either ...more

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Jun 23, 2015 Carly rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, folklore, audiobook

I got this on audio from AudioBookSync

Wow, this book is weird.

There's something peculiarly haunting about selkie folklore. I can picture a careworn, exhausted mother telling the story to her daughter. Once the women could swim free, before they were robbed of their skins. I can see a father, still mourning the loss of his wife from childbirth, telling it to his young son. The women don't want to leave their husbands and children, but they're torn, and the sea is in their nature, and someday I got this on audio from AudioBookSync

Wow, this book is weird.

There's something peculiarly haunting about selkie folklore. I can picture a careworn, exhausted mother telling the story to her daughter. Once the women could swim free, before they were robbed of their skins. I can see a father, still mourning the loss of his wife from childbirth, telling it to his young son. The women don't want to leave their husbands and children, but they're torn, and the sea is in their nature, and someday they must return to it.

The symbolism of the story is so very direct: when the man sees the selkie women, carefree and beautiful and happy, he is enchanted, and his enchantment quickly turns to acquisitive lust. He steals a skin and thereby imprisons the maiden, turning her from a creature of the wild seas to an obedient wife. He keeps her skin--her agency--locked away, and without it, she is utterly dependent upon him, unable to leave, unfit to seek the freedom of the ocean. But since this is a fairy tale, the skin cannot remain hidden forever. When the selkie gets it back, she abandons not only her greedy husband but usually her children as well. Is this, too, a metaphor? An attempt to explain to a child why a mother might leave, either through death or by her own volition? And which is the happy ending? I suppose it depends upon who is telling the story.

But anyway, Lanagan took a different path. While the theme of selkie freedom is of course intrinsic to the story, she leaves the agency metaphor alone. In fact, despite a massive narrative cast, the only set of characters who are never given voices are the selkies themselves. Throughout the story, they remain mute, stripped of self-expression along with their skins.

The oddest aspect of Lanagan's version, and the part I can't wrap my mind around, is that in her story, the root cause of all the evil is a wicked witch. In the end, the men may be weak for bowing to temptation, but since there are evil spells involved, they must not be all that bad for imprisoning the selkies, forcing them into marriage, effectively raping them, and ignoring their overwhelming depression. Clearly it's all the fault of that wicked (female) witch. There's an overarching theme of evil begetting evil--after all, we get to see how the evil witch becomes an evil witch--but I couldn't help but feel that her presence trivializes things a bit. Or maybe not. Maybe Lanagan doesn't see temptation as an excuse. I suppose it's all down to interpretation.

I'm not sure it's something I would have picked up myself, but I definitely found Sea Hearts a thought-provoking read. ...more

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Jan 30, 2012 Kate Forsyth rated it really liked it

Shelves: fairytale-retelling, fantasy, historical-fantasy

I first read Margo Lanagan a few years ago, when Garth Nix pressed a copy of her short story collection Black Juice upon me at a writer’s conference. ‘You must read this,’ he said.
‘But I really don’t like short stories,’ I said.
‘You’ll like these,’ he answered. And he was right. One of the stories in particular really haunted me – ‘Singing My Sister Down’ was a strange, dark, heartbreaking and yet beautiful story which recounts the last hours in the life of a young woman condemned to death by I first read Margo Lanagan a few years ago, when Garth Nix pressed a copy of her short story collection Black Juice upon me at a writer’s conference. ‘You must read this,’ he said.
‘But I really don’t like short stories,’ I said.
‘You’ll like these,’ he answered. And he was right. One of the stories in particular really haunted me – ‘Singing My Sister Down’ was a strange, dark, heartbreaking and yet beautiful story which recounts the last hours in the life of a young woman condemned to death by drowning in a tar pool. We don’t know where or when the story is set, and we only gradually learn some of the reason why. What is striking about the story is the language, which was so unlike anything else I had ever read I was mesmerised. Margo Lanagan’s voice was bold, inventive, and filled with mystery.
I loved it.
So did the rest of the world. Black Juice ended up being a Michael L. Printz Honor Book, winning two World Fantasy Awards, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, a Golden Aurealis Award, and a Bram Stoker Award nomination.
Phew!
So when I heard a few years later that Margo had written a novel, I was keen to read it. My interest sharpened when I learned that it was a retelling of the ‘Snow White and Rose Red’ fairy tale. You all know how much I love fairy tale retellings!
I finally read her novel Tender Morsels last year (about three years after it came out) and this is how I reviewed it:
This is a truly extraordinary book, and one that lingers in the mind for a long time afterwards. The language is astonishingly good – bold, original, unexpected – and the story itself takes all kinds of surprising directions ... It’s only occasionally that I finish a book with a real sense of awe, but this book delivered me that. If you haven’t read it yet, read it now. Then let’s talk about it. I’m dying to talk to someone about it!
Tender Morsels was a controversial book, dealing as it did with incest, rape, and revenge, and I certainly found some of the scenes hard to read. What I loved most about the book was the firecracker language, and that sense of strangeness and mystery that Margo seems to do so well. It went on to win a World Fantasy Award too, and was named a Michael L. Printz Honor Book as well.
Now Margo has a new book out and I could hardly wait to get my greedy little hands on it. It’s about selkies, I was informed. I love selkies! If you don’t all know how much I love selkies, well, you should be able to guess.
Sea Hearts is wonderful, in all senses of the word. It’s a dark, moody, storm-wracked book of love, longing, desire, and wickedness. Its central character, Misskaella the sea-witch, is one of the most powerful fictive creations I’ve read in quite some time. Her story - and that of the selkies and the men who covet them – is heartbreaking in its sadness, yet also so hauntingly beautiful, so filled with the sweeping rhythm of the sea, and pierced here and there with shafts of light, that the lingering feeling is one of awe and wonderment.
...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Isamlq rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-favorites, arc-galley, aaw-yeah

This is my first Lanagan but by no means will it be my last. From the very words chosen to the way they’d been woven together, the feel of this is long and lush, dense and at times too much. Everything is so specifically and skillfully put together, that I felt the moody, dark and yes, sometimes even disturbing tone just propelled me forward.

I’ve come away with characters that cannot help but be well-realised. Better yet, those seven voices each building upon what’s last been said serve up ...more

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Aug 19, 2011 ~Tina~ rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mermaids-selkies, cover-crazz, young-adult, read-2012

This is one of those books were I'm completely clueless of what I could possible say about it. So I'm gonna keep this short.
While I may have struggled with the writing style, I still thought this was beautifully told. Margo Lanagan has a way she set this story. It reads like a mythical fairy tale. It's whimsical, vibrant and almost poetic, while it's characters felt haunting, fierce and achingly real. But with that said, I have to admit, I still struggled with the way this was told. I'm usually ...more

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Nov 10, 2011 ALPHAreader rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

There are rumours about Rollrock Island. Mainlanders claim that the small, remote island is populated with impossibly beautiful women … mams and wives with silken hair and long limbs, lips you could lose yourself in and fathomless eyes. They say these women came from the sea – conjured by a witch for the Rollrock men to bed and wed. Rumour has it that these sea-maidens wash ashore and bewitch men, stealing husbands and suitors alike.

But the Rollrock women are curious creatures. Born of the sea, ...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Laura Morrigan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 6-stars-out-of-5, 2012, female-and-lgbt, myths-fairytales-retellings, spec-fic-imaginary-life, magic, australasia-oceania

I have always liked stories about witches. Real witches, not just monsters in stories told to scare children. They fascinate me: their strength, their outsider status, ostracised by society. Did they become a witch and then become an outcast, or did their outcast status drive them to witchcraft? What does witch mean, other than an insult for a strong or independant woman, or a woman who is just different from everyone else.

Miskaella was born looking different from the other girls on Rockroll I have always liked stories about witches. Real witches, not just monsters in stories told to scare children. They fascinate me: their strength, their outsider status, ostracised by society. Did they become a witch and then become an outcast, or did their outcast status drive them to witchcraft? What does witch mean, other than an insult for a strong or independant woman, or a woman who is just different from everyone else.

Miskaella was born looking different from the other girls on Rockroll island. She was short and heavy, without their prettiness. And she 'hearkened back' to their shameful history. She was an outcast. When her powers began to develop, even her mother could not look at her the same way. While her motivations in creating the brides may have been selfish, and revenge driven, you can understand her motivations, all that she has lost and never had. This is the kind of character I like, a woman who you can understand, care about. She is flawed and unbeautiful, and so deserving of happiness, it makes me sad. It is fascinating how she becomes what they labelled her as.

A couple of generations on and everything has changed. Not just Miskaella, shaped into a mad, vengeful old witch, but the town itself. Now the normal women are the outcasts.

With a narrative told through a collection of characters, Lanagan paints a vivid picture of small island life and the strange magic that makes it a place apart. There is sympathy for all the characters, including the sea wives who have no choice in the matter. Everyone loses from the bringing of the sea wives. But in the end, life goes on.

Maybe it was right to punish the women by initially bringing the sea-wives (although probably not) but what about all the future pain it causes? Is revenge ever justified?

This is a story about magic that looks at the human cost, showing how the characters lives are changed by what happens. There are many fairytales and old stories about birdwives, swan maidens, squirrel wives, selkies, etc. but often they are about a man getting the woman as a reward for his cleverness or trickery, never about what it is like for them to live together, or how the woman feels about it. Sea Hearts looks at the consequences. ...more

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Apr 27, 2012 Arielle Walker rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, pūrākau, ocean-dwelling, fantasy-unusual, islands

I think I can best explain my feelings towards this book in terms of what it wasn't quite.

For example:
The writing was lovely, but not quite beautiful.
The story was interesting, but not quite captivating.
The story was different, but not quite unique*.
The multiple points of view didn't quite work as well as it should have.

The word 'quite" is starting to look a little odd to me, so I'll stop using it.

A couple of little technical points really grated on me as a reader, petty though they may be. ...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Melina Marchetta rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It's my favourite Margo Lanagan and that's saying something. It's truly beautiful writing.

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Jan 05, 2018 Sara rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fic, non-american, fantasy, ya, dark, quiet

Wow. I have so many thoughts about this book. First: Sadness that I took so long to read this one (I purchased it for the library in 2012) - I think I was put off by the title and the cover which seemed to infer some kind of drippy romance. It is not any kind of drippy romance. Not at all.

I think the best way to describe this novel is If a Slightly More Optimistic Shirley Jackson Wrote about Selkies. Like Jackson's work, this book is set in a claustrophobic small community where resentments and Wow. I have so many thoughts about this book. First: Sadness that I took so long to read this one (I purchased it for the library in 2012) - I think I was put off by the title and the cover which seemed to infer some kind of drippy romance. It is not any kind of drippy romance. Not at all.

I think the best way to describe this novel is If a Slightly More Optimistic Shirley Jackson Wrote about Selkies. Like Jackson's work, this book is set in a claustrophobic small community where resentments and judgments and discord abound. Much like the unforgettable Merricat from We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Misskaella is both shunned by her community and full of simmering resentment towards it. And as with Merricat, the reader feels both sympathy and horror towards Miskaella as she finds a way to enact revenge on her community - an act that spirals through succeeding generations in ever-changing ways.

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD - I WOULD RECOMMEND READING NO FURTHER IF YOU WANT THE BEST EXPERIENCE WITH THIS BOOK

In this case, Misskaella's revenge is agreeing to bring forth beautiful young women from seals as sea-brides for the dissatisfied young men of the island. Soon, every man on the island wants a seal-wife - even those already married to human women. Who wouldn't want a beautiful, lithe, docile, compliant, moldable, magical creature instead of a complicated human with needs and emotions of her own? As I was reading about the island becoming completely transformed into a society exclusively of human men and sea-wives and their children, I felt very disturbed. Isn't this basically slavery? When the sea-wife is removed from the seal body, the man keeps the seal-coat and hides it away so his wife will not return to the sea. She is therefore completely under his will, and yet none of the sea-wives seemed resentful. Maybe wistful for the sea - but not angry at basically being held captive. Gross, right?

But I should have trusted the author, because what on the surface seems like a win for all these men is later revealed to be a curse for everyone, including the men. The crux of the book is how some male characters come to realize the rot of their society and begin to wonder if they can make changes. Maybe it is our current political moment, but this made me think of the #metoo movement and of #blacklivesmatter and how there are men and white people who are suddenly starting to realize how a system of oppression harms everyone within the system - including the oppressors - and more importantly how their role within the system harms the oppressed. And how we can all make choices - sometimes difficult and painful - to right some wrongs, and make everyone more free. ...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Cristina rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: everyone, fans of dark fairytales

Shelves: forever-favorites, be-still-my-heart, cry-baby-queen, very-faerie-or-retelling

I don't really know where to begin with talking about this novel. I have never read anything by Margo Lanagan, but have been wanting to for some time. Seeing as I have a penchant for tales that involve the sea and magic, when I first read the synopsis for this book I knew that I wanted to read it straight away. Only trouble was - I made the mistake of ordering it on Fishpond, instead of waiting for the September 2012 US release of it under the title, The Brides of Rollrock. It wouldn't I don't really know where to begin with talking about this novel. I have never read anything by Margo Lanagan, but have been wanting to for some time. Seeing as I have a penchant for tales that involve the sea and magic, when I first read the synopsis for this book I knew that I wanted to read it straight away. Only trouble was - I made the mistake of ordering it on Fishpond, instead of waiting for the September 2012 US release of it under the title, The Brides of Rollrock. It wouldn't necessarily have saved me a whole lot of money, but when the first copy took a month to ship, and then never showed up, and I had to wait even then another month for them to allow me to request for a new copy sent...I basically waited months & months & months for this book, because I had already purchased it, though it was being sold at my local bookstore. I saw it several times and almost got it, but I am honestly so glad that I waited because the Aussie version, which is titled Sea Hearts is so much more beautiful and fitting in its cover art, design and titling...in my opinion. I love my copy.

Anyways - to discuss the content of this book is going to be painful for me. Not because it is sad or awful, but because it is so beautiful and powerful and it crept so deeply inside of me, I do not know how to discuss it or review it. Suffice it to say, I did not find any flaws whatsoever in this story or in its delivery.

The story, which is told over a few generations from varying perspectives, takes place on the remote and quaint island of Rollrock. Misskaella, a young witch, realizes that she can retrieve from the heart of a seal, a woman...a sea-wife, a gorgeous and well-tempered woman who will immediately fall madly in love with the first man she sees. After a lifetime of being trodden over and disregarded by her siblings, peers, and parents, the witch uses this power as a sort of revenge over the people of Rollrock. And so begins the tale. . . . .

One thing that greatly stands out to me about this novel, is the lack of a villain. From the various points of view, you come to know how the arrival of the sea-wives affects everyone on Rollrock for many, many years: first, wives & daughters...and later, husbands, fathers, sons. And despite so much turmoil that comes about, you cannot blame the witch Misskaella, because through her narration you have come to know her and understand her. In this book, the line between right and wrong, good and bad, is completely obliterated and every character is left raw before you, so human, so imperfect, and so real. This book describes human emotion, and specifically revenge, pain, love, ignorance and desire in ways that few books I have read have even come close to. I think that the strongest bit of the story is probably that which is told from Misskaella's point of view - but I must say that my favorite is that of Daniel Mallett. However, I fell in love with every character, I felt their pain and their desire and I felt that I knew their heart.

Another thing that cannot go without mentioning about this book: the mythology. This story is a fairytale that Lanagan could not have simply created...she must've travelled to the darkest, strangest depths of the ocean...the parts which go unseen by sunlight and humans and scientific reasoning and there, she caught it quickly in a mason jar and ran away home. I imagine she put that mason jar on her nightstand and there it glowed like a firefly, and she sat in the dark and stared into the light, and slowly came to understand the buzzing sound it emitted for language, and that is how she came to know this tale. I cannot fathom that a person created this world and these people of thin air, they are too real and too true!. This story, wild and unrelenting in its vibrancy caught me completely off guard in its originality and atmospheric detailing. The island of Rollrock became a place in me, a state of mind, and I let myself be carried off on icy waves to snowy hills and rocky beaches, warm in the summers...I saw cottages adorned with sea-like plants and shells and sea glass on windowsills... and oh, I'll dream of raven-haired, long-limbed women crying under blankets knitted from seaweed for a long time I think.

If you have not read Lanagan and want to, read this. But really just... READ THIS. whoever you are, whatever you're thinking of... READ THIS BOOK. ...more

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Jul 02, 2013 Tanja (Tanychy) St. Delphi/James rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommended to Tanja (Tanychy) by: Scarlet

Shelves: fantasy, favorites

I'm blown away! Review also posted at Ja čitam, a ti?

Don't be surprised if you see plenty of people putting this book as DNF as this books takes time. It takes time to feel its magic and get into the story. Luckily for me they are my favorite type. Also luckily for you because I'll try to make you read it and experience the real magic.

Everything starts in Rollrock Island, a very lonely place where most of the people are fisherman and they're pretty much cut out off from the outside world. They I'm blown away! Review also posted at Ja čitam, a ti?

Don't be surprised if you see plenty of people putting this book as DNF as this books takes time. It takes time to feel its magic and get into the story. Luckily for me they are my favorite type. Also luckily for you because I'll try to make you read it and experience the real magic.

Everything starts in Rollrock Island, a very lonely place where most of the people are fisherman and they're pretty much cut out off from the outside world. They visit other islands from time to time but most of their lives they spend in Rollrockll. Beside being lonely this island is also very special and magical, very magical. It's the place where on the beach you can see seals lying in herds and only one person can wake them up. And everything starts with her...

Once upon a time Misskaella was just a simple girl in Rollrock and as many other girls she dreamed of marring and having a normal life, only some other things stopped her in that. Which lead to another thing - her magic and soon enough from the village's outcast she became the most powerful person, which changed lives of all village for many generations to come.

If you have a brilliant mind (as I do) and start reading this book without reading the blurb first you'll be lost. I mean you'll be lost anyway because this book has different narrators but as the plot unfolds you get to understand the connection between them, but I was extra lost. Don't bother if the whole idea seems pretty wicked as it really is, the writing here will keep you going and probably you'll start believing everything the author says. It's like magic where her words bewitched me and I couldn't but love this book.

I'm sure not many people will appreciate the suffering to discover the beauty here, but not me. I'm that kind of person that doesn't like that beauty that everyone can see, I like to search, go deeper to discover that beauty inside, the one that's hard to get but once you have it you feel fulfilled. ...more

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Nov 29, 2012 tee rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, australian-author, to-buy, e-pube, witchy

I have a million books to read (exaggerated but probably not far off) and yet the other day, I couldn't pick one of them - nothing was jumping out. I wanted to read about the ocean but it had to be magical. It needed to be witchy but not precious or twee. There was nothing that I owned remotely like this and just after I had given up, I stumbled upon a book recommendation for Sea Hearts (as The Brides of Rollrock Island is called here in Australia).

Too good to be true, surely. It sounded like ...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Larissa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own

When she was little she knew she was different, she just didn't understand how she was different. There were those in town who would whisper as she passed, others with courage would openly scorn her but most would simply turn away as though she were never there. That is till one day when the world opened up to her, her secrets were exposed and she performed magic; she called forth a maiden from the sea.

When he was younger he had never noticed the obvious, how all the mams on the island were the ...more

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Apr 09, 2012 Kerri Turner rated it really liked it

Shelves: favourites, women-writers, feminist, australian-authors, fantasy, fairytales-retold

I love nothing more than coming across a book with an interesting idea, that actually manages to live up to that idea. I thought this book did that in spades.

The concept, although reminding me strongly of Stepford Wives, was made unique by the almost fairytale-like aspects to it. And the way it was told left me constantly wanting to know what happened next - which is why I flew through reading this in about three days. The way it is written is just beautiful too; descriptive, without being ...more

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Feb 21, 2016 Tema rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: time-n-place-travellers, refreshing-ya, this-author-is-a-genius

This book was fascinating. I promise to try my best with this review

I picked it up because I was excited to see Melina Marchetta, one of my all-time favourite authors, had described the book as "breathtaking. Margo Lanagan raises the bar with every story she tells". Well. If Melina Marchetta, whose work I would call breathtaking, calls another book breathtaking, then I needed to read it!

The novel, you should know, is made up of individual, personal stories (the book's chapters), each told from This book was fascinating. I promise to try my best with this review

I picked it up because I was excited to see Melina Marchetta, one of my all-time favourite authors, had described the book as "breathtaking. Margo Lanagan raises the bar with every story she tells". Well. If Melina Marchetta, whose work I would call breathtaking, calls another book breathtaking, then I needed to read it!

The novel, you should know, is made up of individual, personal stories (the book's chapters), each told from the perspective of several protagonists who are all tied to the island of Rollrock. While these are individual stories, they all weave together in a complex yet accessible way to form a sole narrative with admirable breadth and depth. They paint a tale of an island community that is magically and horrifically transformed across many generations (this was done superbly by the way), exploring the consequences it has on the men, women and children.

One of the things I really loved about this book was the way the perspectives built on each other, answering questions that were posed in earlier chapters and asking questions to be answered in later ones. The choice of narrators was also brilliant. I was quite excited to discover what kind of narrator I was getting next.

The Brides of Rollrock Island was a bit hard to bite into at first. Lanagan's prose is beautiful. But, while I have a soft spot for original and beautiful prose, Lanagan's writing was a bit much for me at times, mainly during Misskaella Prout's chapter, which also happened to be the second chapter of the novel and the longest. Sometimes the prose was so poetic to be completely enigmatic. This is, however, coming from someone who has little to no appreciation of poetry.

Thankfully the rest of the chapters were more tamed and I appreciated Lanagan's reasons for using such levels of poetry during this particular chapter. Misskaella is, afterall, a witch; the magic in her is fierce and strange. The writing evokes strongly the colours of teal and grey. For me, I think the story really picked up with the arrival of the sea-wives. They do take a while to make an appearance so hang in there if you're like me and begin to wonder if this seal-bride thing is actually some kind of extended metaphor...

This book is also rich in feminist themes and exploration. A big YES! Another reason why I picked this one up. Lanagan explores the lives and roles in society of the different women (of land and sea) and the daughters in this transforming community, each trapped and oppressed by an ideal. Lanagan shows the cruelty of the men of Rollrock, but also the cruelty of the women. I am a massive admirer of works that use sci-fi/fantasy to tap into real-world issues, and Margo Lanagan really succeeds here with her use of selkie folklore.

Mothers. Wives. Daughters. Lovers. Outsiders. Witch. One of the ways Lanagan explore all of these is through the emphasis on mothers, or mams, as they're called on Rollrock. Whether it's the need to please one's mam, to follow and observe her, the love of one's mam or her absence, and the experience of motherhood, they all play a central part in each narrator's story and character. Reflecting on the book and what I've just written, I must not forget that their sons are also integral to the story, to the community's condemnation and redemption. Towards the later chapters, I would even describe the sons as feminists. Hopefully, I haven't scared anyone away with the F-Word. Yes, this book is feminist. So naturally it concerns women and men.

The Brides of Rollrock Island proves that while it's awesome to read about kick-ass heroines, there's so many other ways to raise feminist awareness and female representation in YA. I love a kick-ass female, but I can only take so many. While many of them are complex, I feel like this representation has become too narrow for real-life women. I'm not kick-ass, does that make me any less worthy? Brides reminds us what's wrong with a system that forces the lives of the female characters and leaves many with permanent scars. Most of the female characters are disempowered. But don't mistake this as passiveness. Many still exercise agency, although limited by the system. Yup, it's great to be able to read about average women who may or may not find a way out of an unfair system.
...more

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Feb 11, 2012 S.B. Wright rated it it was amazing

I have been captivated by Margo Lanagan’s skill as a writer since I read her short story Singing My Sister Down. I don’t recall any other short story evoking such emotion before or since.

I discovered Tender Morsels last year and that was another powerful display of skill, this time in novel form.

Sea Hearts continues this showcasing of her skill, with language and narrative. Reading Lanagan is like watching the world through aged glass. The world and its characters are identifiable but there is ...more

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Jul 26, 2012 Wendy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I think I would like to stay in this world almost forever.

This book isn't as difficult or challenging, emotionally, as Tender Morsels--or in structure, either. But it is engrossing and rewarding, and for all its "lyrical"ness, moves quickly without obfuscating. Each narrator in turn endeared him- or herself to me, so that I hated to leave each one behind, but quickly got caught up in the new one.

One thing that puzzles me, that I'd have to pay attention to on a reread: I had thought the book was ...more

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Aug 10, 2016 Leslie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, paranormal, ya-teen

2 stars for the audiobook & 2.5 stars for the book itself

Inspired by the folklore of Orkney & the Sheltland Islands about selkie folk (seals that become transformed to human shape). It seems a bit of a strange choice of topic for an Australian author but that is besides the point.

About the audio edition, narrated by Eloise Oxer and Paul English -- I don't know why it was but both narrators had sibilant S sounds that caused a screechy effect on all my listening devices which was extremely ...more

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Mar 08, 2014 Jane rated it it was amazing

Shelves: specfic, australian, aww2014, female

This book very much crept up on me. I picked it up to finish off my Aust Women Writers quota and because I’m trying to read some of Australia’s preeminent speculative fiction writers. I thought I was reading a lovely YA fairytale, an olde worlde tale of witches and selkies, and I was enjoying it well enough though it wasn’t leaving any great impression on me.

That was until I got to the story of Bet Winch and realised I was actually reading an evisceration of the ways men and women treat one ...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Jen (The Starry-Eyed Revue) rated it really liked it

Shelves: gothic, 2015, fairytales-revisited, historical-fiction, audiobooks, fantasy, mythology, reimaginings-retellings, aussies, sync

I quite enjoyed this evocative, otherworldly tale of witches and vengeance and sea wives. It was pretty miserable what the town put Misskaella through, but in turn, it was also pretty awful what she unleashed on the town, especially those whose only transgression was being born to one of the townsfolk who'd wronged her in some way.

Told in alternating perspectives, from the witches to the men of Rollrock Island to the women who deserved better than men who sought out sea wives, Sea Hearts -- ...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Lyndsey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pov-alternating, prose-dark-or-disturbing, about-mermaids-selkies-or-sirens, about-witchcraft-alchemy, prose-edgy, prose-literaryish, prose-mindbending-or-weird, reviewed-2013, 1st-person, about-islands

4.5 Stars

There is something so disturbing about this book that keeps it just shy of five stars. All her work is so engaging but at the same time, there is something unsettling in the way that she writes. Something dark is afoot within her prose.

Once again, she serves up a story involving birthing strange fairy children with a side of beastiality. I'm sensing a theme here. But strangely I just can't peel my eyes away.

Loved it. Love her.

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Jan 07, 2017 Sophie Carlon rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2017, 5-stars

Feminist commentary told through the lives of selkies and sea witches. Margo Lanagan is a master.

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Play Book Tag: Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (4 stars)	5	14	Apr 16, 2016 02:50PM
Sinopsis en Español // Synopsis in Spanish	1	2	Feb 15, 2015 09:07AM
Sci-fi and Heroic...: 2013 Ditmar Award Winners announced	2	16	May 03, 2013 05:37AM
The Stella Prize ...: Sea Hearts review	2	6	Apr 07, 2013 05:20PM
Lettori sui generis: The brides of Rollrock island	85	41	Mar 04, 2013 01:16AM
Huntsville-Madiso...: Staff Picks: The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan	4	13	Nov 13, 2012 07:19PM

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About Margo Lanagan

Margo Lanagan

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Margo Lanagan, born in Waratah, New South Wales, is an Australian writer of short stories and young adult fiction.

Many of her books, including YA fiction, were only published in Australia. Recently, several of her books have attracted worldwide attention. Her short story collection Black Juice won two World Fantasy Awards. It was published in Australia by Allen & Unwin and the United Kingdom ...more

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“How different other families were, the shape of them, the things they presumed, the children that grew up in them.” — 16 likes

“I felt freed to please myself, to find my way as I would, in a world that was much vaster than I had realized before, in which I was but one star-gleam, one wavelet, among multitudes. My happiness mattered not a whit more than the next person's - or the next fish's, or the next grass-blade's! - and not a whit less.” — 12 likes

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