Review by Kelly Jarvis: The Sirens by Emilia Hart

The Sirens by Emilia Hart is a heart wrenching tale of the bond between women and the affection forged by sisterhood. Told through the narratives of Lucy, a university student fleeing a bad relationship, her sister Jess’ teenage diary, and the story of twin sisters Mary and Eliza who have been forced from Ireland onto a convict ship headed toward Australia, Hart’s novel is an epic adventure of both body and soul.

The mysteries of femininity and the sea haunt The Sirens. Lucy and her sister have been diagnosed with rare skin conditions causing painful scaling, and although their relationship has become distant, Lucy travels to her sister’s home in her time of need. She finds Jess’ cottage on Comber Bay deserted, and, using her journalistic skills, she delves into an historic series of true crime disappearances as she pieces together the secrets of her sister’s life and her own. Although the contemporary story is fascinating, I especially loved the chapters devoted to Mary and Eliza’s relationship. Born in Ireland in the late 1700’s, the twins are devoted to one another with Mary narrating the visual world for her blind sister Eliza. Their bond as sisters helps them survive a harrowing ordeal at sea and provides context for the mystery at the heart of Jess and Lucy’s modern lives.

Emilia Hart’s prose sings throughout the whole of the novel. She oscillates between third-person storytelling in both past and present tense and first-person accounts from diary entries, holding the readers’ interests as the plot of her novel unfolds. Beneath the story of sisterhood and the deep bonds of trauma forged between women is an empowering message of strength and resilience, and, like the sirens of mythology, the characters learn to harness the power of their collective voice to bring justice to an unjust world. The text drips with the watery images of the salt-laced sea, and those drawn to the ocean will delight in Hart’s rich descriptions. Hart, the author of Weyward, is an expert at weaving together generations of narratives to create engaging and cohesive tales, and The Sirens is the perfect choice for a meaningful and atmospheric summer read. You can find it here.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.

Kelly Jarvis works as the Contributing Writer for The Fairy Tale Magazine. Her work has also been featured in A Moon of One’s Own, Baseball Bard, Blue Heron Review, Corvid Queen, Eternal Haunted Summer, Forget Me Not Press, Mermaids Monthly, The Chamber Magazine, The Magic of Us, and the World Weaver Press Anthology Mothers of Enchantment: New Tales of Fairy Godmothers. Selkie Moon is her debut novella. You can connect with her on Facebook (Kelly Jarvis, Author), Instagram (@kellyjarviswriter) or visit her at https://kellyjarviswriter.com/