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.
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Powerful, beautiful, dangerous, unsettling, truthful, earthy, challenging, poetic, wonderful, absorbing. I can't recommend it highly enough. 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...Read this selkie novel. It's heartstoppingly gorgeous. And you won't find anyone else with a voice like Margo's. 5 stars. - The Bookbag
But the outstanding new novel of this genre is The Brides of Rollrock Island. Margo Lanagan is a writer whose violently sexy reworkings of Grimm have previously been more for teenagers, but her new book stays within the allusive fairy tale tropes and will enthrall readers of 11+. Nothing is predictable in this astonishing novel, which expands on classic tales about selkie brides with unsettling imaginative thoroughness. - The Times
Atmospheric, moving and rich in detail. - Fluttering Butterflies
A gorgeous piece of work, perhaps less startling and visceral than Tender Morsels, but in many ways a richer and more complex novel. - Locus Online
There is something about the way Margo Lanagan writes that seems to hold magic. Brides is a story of desire, love, loss, heartbreak and heartache and the sea. You can smell the salt sea and sealskin, and feel the sway of the water. This book contains the joy and the horror of love, the magic and the bitterness and the cruelty and the kindness of love...The Brides of Rollrock Island, everything I could hope for, in a book. Beautiful. - Jackie Morris
The Brides of Rollrock Island is a dark, brooding and windswept tale of longing and despair in which Lanagan' s writing is as beautiful is ever...It reads like a classic. It is a wonderful book and it is unlikely that many better will be published in the genre this year. Existing fans of Lanagan should rejoice and I strongly suggest that those who have not already read her work, do so. - Fantasy Book Review
The Brides of Rollrock Island is written beautifully with great confidence and vigour, cleverly charting both the social and the emotional impact of the bewitching of the Rollrock men. Lanagan's masterful storytelling will both warm your heart and tug at its strings; the inevitable and tragic fates of the selkies, the Rollrock men and their children will leave you fighting back the tears right down to the last page. - We Love This Book
Lanagan's prose is always a joy; it's often surprising and yet always familiar, for she is confident swimming in the archetypes of folklore and fairy-tale. 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. - The Guardian
This earthy novel is unsettling and dangerous. It dissects everything that love can be; joyous and tender but equally cruel, painful and totally all-encompassing. - Sugarscape
Nothing is predictable in this astonishing novel, which expands on classic tales about selkie brides with unsettling imaginative thoroughness. - The Times
Margo Lanagan writes a hauntingly beautiful folktale of the poor fishermen of Rollrock Island...It is easy to see why this was originally an award-winning novella. Lanagan creates a magically tale that is almost lyrical in ambience. It is a heart breaking story. - Vanguard Fiction
a heartbreakingly beautiful novel about persecution and revenge, love, betrayal, sacrifice. The conflict - the bringing of the sea wives to Rollrock Island by the witch Misskaella - plays out over three generations or so, which reminded my Bronte-saturated mind of Wuthering Heights... As a richly poetic and atmospheric novel...Highly, highly recommended. - Oxford Erin
The language of The Brides of Rollrock Island is beautiful. The stories are distinct but flow from one to the other. The selkies are enchanting but the human women are full of life. There are moments of wonder here - the boys swimming through the sea, forgetting their human lives, to name just one. Despite the heartache, the worry and the loss, one abiding feeling to emerge from The Brides of Rollrock Island is the power for love. - For Winter Nights
loved the way the language helped infuse the novel with a strong sense of place. I loved the atmosphere of Rollrock Island itself - barren and beautiful and every bit as alive as any of the characters. And I loved that the different sections of the novel give us what feels like mere glimpses of a much larger story - the tip of the iceberg, in the best possible sense. It's not that the novel feels incomplete; it's that it manages to make readers sense how much more must have been going on in this place than we get to see. And when you finish the book, you almost suspect that the puzzle pieces will go on to rearrange themselves, and whenever you read it again you'll see entirely different parts of the whole and deepen your understanding of what really happened in this island. Margo Lanagan has done it again. The Brides of Rollrock Island is a beautiful book, and one that will stay with me for a very long time. - Things Mean A Lot
A new Lanagan novel...is an event to be met with both delight and a faint dread: it’s likely to be excellent, but it’ll also put you through the emotional wringer. Brides is indeed not a cheerful tale, but it is a richly nuanced one...Brides is a bleakly beautiful, highly atmospheric be-careful-what-you-wish-for tale. 4 1/2 stars - SFX
Lanagan’s story is wonderfully unpredictable — never letting the reader become complacent, never letting the prose be any less than pitch-perfect. Regardless of who the narrator is, the language is always heavy with mood — perfectly atmospheric for such a storm-tossed setting. - Dawn.com
The writing is captivating, full of warmth, beauty and understanding and there is much for any reader to take from this fascinating story. - Armadillo Magazine
It's just beautiful. From the sea-maidens' transformation right down to their homesickness, everything is tasteful, wonderful and never feels at all silly...a fascinating look at the selkie myth - Booking in Heels
Enthralling...This beautifully written story will keep readers enchanted until the very last page. - Booktrust
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).
