The Brides of Rollrock Island

Outstanding . . . 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 -- Amanda Craig * The Times *
Lanagan's prose is always a joy . . . she shows writing of the highest order: subtle, powerful, poetic -- Marcus Sedgwick * Guardian *
Margo Lanagan’s writing is dangerously beautiful; it knows how to dance, and it knows how to fight -- Mal Peet
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. Five stars * The Bookbag *
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 *
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 *