Selkie
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- Pre-Order
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- Expected Aug 12, 2025
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the author of Medusa comes a beautiful and emotional story featuring a selkie: a mythological creature who can turn from a seal into a human.
Seven years ago, Quinn finally dared to transform from a seal into a human and took her first steps on land. As a selkie, she is both a daughter of land and sea. But when a human stole her pelt, he stole her freedom as well, forcing Quinn to become his wife and bear his children. As legend tells, capturing a selkie will bring you luck, and she became a coveted prize.
Constrained to a life that was no longer her own, Quinn longed for nothing more than to find her pelt and seize her freedom. Then one day, her eldest daughter hands Quinn her pelt and without a second thought, Quinn snatches it and escapes to the sea. But she's no longer used to swimming and doesn't know where her herd has gone. And after an almost disastrous encounter with her former husband, leaving her severely injured, Quinn doesn't have the strength to go searching.
Instead, she finds herself taking shelter on a nearby island with a lighthouse and three lighthouse keepers. Quinn doesn't trust humans anymore and wants to stay hidden from the keepers. But she can't survive on her own. Can she learn to trust these humans and shed her hatred of all humankind? Or will she give into her fears and accept the monstrous fate that others have bestowed upon her?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Drawing from Scottish folklore surrounding seal-women, Gruender (Medusa) crafts an enchanting tale about autonomy and trust. Owen comes upon selkie Quinn as she's exploring her human form for the first time and steals her seal pelt, trapping her into a marriage. Selkies are supposed to bring luck and fortune, but Quinn rages against her entrapment, repeatedly tearing their house apart in her desperate search for her pelt. Seven years later, Quinn's children discover the pelt while playing hide and seek and bring it to their mother, who seizes the chance to escape. Returned to the sea, Quinn finds that she's still not safe. Her herd have abandoned her and she is hunted by Owen, who refuses to let her go. When she's injured in her flight from him, Quinn seeks refuge on the island where she was first discovered all those years ago. A lighthouse has been built there in the interim, manned by three lighthouse keepers. Now Quinn must decide if, after all that humans have put her through, she can trust them to help her. Toggling between past and present, Gruender uses mythology to show the best and worst of humanity. The result is sure to please readers looking for folkloric retellings outside of Greek mythology.
