The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

The thing about discovering a new author is that after that fantastic first book, expectations are high and disappointement is almost pre-programmed. And in the end the witch will always have her payment.

But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she is. A fisherman may have and hold a sea bride, and tell himself that he is her master. Down on the windswept beach, where the seals lie in herds, the outcast sea witch Misskaella casts her spells – and brings forth girls from the sea – girls with long, pale limbs and faces of haunting innocence and loveliness – the most enchantingly lovely girls the fishermen of Rollrock have ever seen.īut magic always has its price. But Rollrock is also a place of magic – the scary, salty-real sort of magic that changes lives forever.

Life is hard for the families who must wring a poor living from the stormy seas. The Blurb: Rollrock island is a lonely rock of gulls and waves, blunt fishermen and their homely wives. Either way, what I thought would be a highlight, left me with the lukewarm feeling of “meh”.įirst sentence: “The old witch is there,” said Raditch, peering over the top to Six-Mile Beach. Maybe my expectations are at fault here, or maybe I feel a little cheated when I buy a novella that turns out to be a few short stories, strung together by a common setting. After the incredible Tender Morsels I expected nothing less than brilliance from this novella (which was published under the title Sea Hearts in Australia and New Zealand).

The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan