The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
Rollrock island is a lonely rock of gulls and waves, blunt fishermen and their homely 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 - the scary, salty-real sort of magic that changes lives forever. 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. But magic always has its price. A fisherman may have and hold a sea bride, and tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she is. He will be equally ensnared. And in the end the witch will always have her payment. Margo Lanagan has written an extraordinary tale of desire, despair and transformation. In devastatingly beautiful prose, she reveals unforgettable characters capable of unspeakable cruelty - and deep unspoken love. After reading about the Rollrock fishermen and their sea brides, the world will not seem the same.
"Outstanding.. Nothing is predictable in this astonishing novel, which expands on classic tales about selkie brides with unsettling imaginative thoroughness" -- Amanda Craig The Times 20120204 "Margo Lanagan has a unique, uncompromising and lyrical voice and she brings it to the folk myth of selkies in a soaring journey of passion and pain ... Heartstoppingly gorgeous. Five stars" The Bookbag 20120116 "Margo Lanagan is a writer of such soaring talent that it is almost impossible to do justice to her creations in a review ... Readers will find themselves beguiled by Lanagan's deliciously unsettling and haunting prose" -- Dinah Hall Daily Telegraph 20120722 "As she paints images for us of Daniel's brief life under the waves as a seal, she shows writing of the highest order: subtle, powerful, poetic" -- Marcus Sedwick Guardian 20120211 "A brilliant novel that draws you in to its particular world and holds you spellbound" -- Annalise Taylor Carousel
Margo Lanagan's novels and short story collections have excited readers the world over, and won many prizes, including four World Fantasy Awards - for 'Singing My Sister Down' (Best Short Fiction, 2005), Black Juice (Best Collection, 2005), Tender Morsels (Best Novel, 2009) and Sea-Hearts (Best Novella, 2010). She lives in Sydney, Australia.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780857560339 |
| ISBN 10 | 0857560336 |
| Title | The Brides of Rollrock Island |
| Author | Margo Lanagan |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Penguin Random House Children's UK |
| Year published | 2012-02-02 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Prizes | Long-listed for Carnegie Medal 2013 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |