The Sirens
A Novel
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4.2 • 9 Ratings
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • #1 LibraryReads Pick • Indie Next Pick
A spellbinding novel about sisters separated by centuries, but bound together by the sea, from the author of the runaway New York Times bestseller Weyward
2019: Lucy awakens from a dream to find her hands around her ex-lover’s throat. Horrified, she flees to her older sister’s house on the Australian coast, hoping she can help explain the strangely vivid nightmare that preceded the attack—but Jess is nowhere to be found.
As Lucy awaits her return, the rumors surrounding Jess’s strange small town start to emerge. Numerous men have gone missing at sea, spread over decades. A tiny baby was found hidden in a cave. And sailors tell of hearing women’s voices on the waves. Desperate for answers, Lucy finds and begins to read her sister’s adolescent diary.
1999: Jess is a lonely sixteen-year-old in a rural town in the middle of the continent. Diagnosed with a rare allergy to water, she has always felt different, until her young, charming art teacher takes an interest in her drawings, seeing a power and maturity in them—and in her—that no one else has.
1800: Twin sisters Mary and Eliza have been torn from their loving father in Ireland and forced onto a convict ship bound for Australia. For their entire lives, they’ve feared the ocean, as their mother tragically drowned when they were just girls. Yet as the boat bears them further and further from all they know, they begin to notice changes in their bodies that they can’t explain, and they feel the sea beginning to call to them…
A breathtaking tale of female resilience and the bonds of sisterhood across time and space, The Sirens captures the power of dreams, and the mystery and magic of the sea.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Four women connected by sisterhood and the sea are on a journey to find themselves in the face of misogyny in this epic fantasy. In 2019, Lucy escapes to her sister Jess’ seaside home after a violent sleepwalking episode, only to find that Jess is missing. As Lucy searches for answers, she uncovers mysterious legends of sirens and disappearing men. Meanwhile, we head to 1800, where Irish twins Mary and Eliza are sentenced to be transported to Australia; while on the ship, they experience strange transformations tied to ancient myths. As past and present collide, the two timelines seamlessly entwine. Author Emilia Hart’s writing is evocative and lyrical, with the coastal setting providing a hauntingly vivid backdrop to this atmospheric and suspenseful tale. We loved the blend of historical fiction with magical realism and folklore, and felt a lot of empathy for the strong and powerful heroines carving out their own path. Fans of Erin Morgenstern’s enchanting The Night Circus or Imogen Hermes Gowar’s The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock will be lured like a sailor to The Sirens.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hart (Weyward) delivers a high-voltage tale of family secrets, fantastical occurrences, and Australian history. Lucy, a university student in present-day New South Wales, wakes from a recurring dream about two sisters drowning to find she's sleepwalked into her ex-lover Ben's room and is trying to strangle him. Horrified by her actions, she flees to her older sister Jess's house in the seaside town where their parents once lived, but Jess is nowhere to be found. The town is notorious for the mysterious recovery decades ago of a baby from a nearby cave and the unexplained deaths of several local men. Growing up, Lucy wondered why their parents were so reclusive and why Jess refuses to talk about the past. After Lucy recognizes images from her dreams in Jess's paintings, she reads Jess's diary in search of answers. A parallel narrative set in 1800 follows twin sisters Eliza and Mary, who struggle to survive the cruel conditions aboard a convict ship sailing from their native Ireland to Australia. As Hart connects Eliza and Mary's story with Jess's diary, Lucy's dreams, and Lucy's reason for attacking Ben, the narrative occasionally veers from entertaining to exhausting (story elements thrown into the mix include murder, sexual predators, mystical bodily transformations, otherworldly orphans, and mistaken identities). Still, there's fun to be had with this spooky page-turner.
