The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding
-
-
3.9 • 53 Ratings
-
-
- $12.99
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
The bestselling novel from the author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, a haunting and magical novel about joy, grief, courage, and transformation.
'On the afternoon that Esther Wilding drove homeward along the coast, a year after her sister had walked into the sea and disappeared, the light was painfully golden.'
The last time Esther Wilding's beloved older sister Aura was seen, she was walking along the shore towards the sea. In the wake of Aura's disappearance, Esther's family struggles to live with their loss. To seek the truth about her sister's death, Esther reluctantly travels from Lutruwita, Tasmania to Copenhagen, and then to the Faroe Islands, following the trail of the stories Aura left behind: seven fairy tales about selkies, swans and women, alongside cryptic verses Aura wrote and had secretly tattooed on her body.
The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is a sweeping, deeply beautiful and profoundly moving novel about the far-reaches of sisterly love, the power of wearing your heart on your skin, and the ways life can transform when we find the courage to feel the fullness of both grief and joy.
'Vivid and soaring ... The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is a haunting story of trauma and redemption that is nonetheless compelling and accessible. It's a great recommendation for fans of Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers or Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things, as well as Ringland's debut The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart' Books+Publishing
'Like the best books, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is ultimately a story about love. Ringland is a virtuoso of fairytale storytelling for adults.' Sydney Morning Herald
'A mythological journey as much as an unfolding mystery, full of symbols ... a magical, witchy, quirky, luminous book, full of the natural world, the night sky and the ever-changing water around the islands on which it is set.' The Australian
'This intercontinental journey into joy, grief, nature and magic confirms Holly Ringland as one of Australia's most precious, life-changing storytellers.' Booktopia
'Fans of Holly Ringland's beautiful first novel, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, will fall equally in love with her second.' The West Australian
'Myths and legends are the touchstone to truth in this epic journey through love, loss, courage and kinship. But The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is also an elegant and mesmerising tribute to the places that hold our stories, heart and memories. Holly Ringland writes with such tenderness, wit and imagination about all these things that it's impossible to come away from this magical story unchanged' Sally Piper, author of Bone Memories
'Another spell is cast by Holly Ringland. I was swept away by this triumphant and luminous story' Myfanwy Jones, Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlisted author for Leap
'Nobody writes about the pain of being alive more deftly than Holly Ringland. She brings such empathy to the topics of grief, love, family conflict and loss. Some of her sentences took my breath away, and I found myself madly flicking pages, days later, to find them again for safekeeping. Astonishing in its scope, detail and sensitivity, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is tender, magical, epic, funny and devastating. This is a very special writer at her best' - Kate Leaver, author of The Friendship Cure
Customer Reviews
Slow at the start but 2nd half better
To start with, this book was quite hard to get into as I had some interruptions so couldn’t find the time for a good solid read, which I like to do with most of my books. I felt that it was too long and repetitive especially in the first half of the book. This coupled with the fact that I found one of the main characters Esther Wilding’s behaviour self indulgent and frustrating. I really wanted to enjoy this book as much as I had Holly’s last one but nearly abandoned it.
Having said that, I persevered and really enjoyed the writing of the second half of the book much more. The moving from Tasmania to Copenhagen and then to the Faroe Islands helped with this, as Holly Ringland has the fantastic ability to describe places in such a manner that one can be transported into another place. The unraveling of the stories, myths and legends of selkies, swans and women left behind in her sister Aura’s journal and tattooed on her body added to this as they were lyrical, ethereal and quite otherworldly.
The themes in the book which really stood out, were the hiding of secrets from those we love to protect them or ourselves, and the consequences of those decisions. Esther’s sister’s story was quite tragic, as was her mother’s and this really was explored towards the end of the story. I was moved to tears a number of times.