Synopsis

A story of sisters separated by hundreds of years but bound together in more ways than they can imagine

2019: Lucy awakens in her ex-lover’s room in the middle of the night with her hands around his throat. Horrified, she flees to her sister’s house on the coast of New South Wales hoping Jess can help explain the vivid dreams that preceded the attack—but her sister is missing. As Lucy waits for her return, she starts to unearth strange rumours about Jess’s town—tales of numerous missing men, spread over decades. A baby abandoned in a sea-swept cave. Whispers of women’s voices on the waves. All the while, her dreams start to feel closer than ever.

1800: Mary and Eliza are torn from their loving home in Ireland and forced onto a convict ship heading for Australia. As the boat takes them farther and farther away from all they know, they begin to notice unexplainable changes in their bodies.

A breathtaking tale of female resilience, The Sirens is an extraordinary novel that captures the sheer power of sisterhood and the indefinable magic of the sea.

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This book releases 4/1/25

Review

Will the past impact the present?

This book has many moving pieces and covers multiple timeframes. Jess and Lucy, sisters, have an issue with water. The sisters, Mary and Eliza, were sent from Ireland to Australia on a convict ship. Within these stories, there are multiple more dimensions that cover more than just the current day, especially with Jess and Lucy. There are diary entries that broaden the scope of the story for Jess and confirm some of my suspicions about these two women.

I did enjoy the book, but I feel that there are many unanswered questions. There really isn’t an answer regarding the sleepwalking, what happened to the missing men who were featured in a podcast, and Mary and Eliza’s fate. While we can make some educated guesses, who is to say those are the correct assumptions?

While this book has some amazing parts, others fell a little short. It is still a worthy read, especially if you enjoy magical realism.

We give the book 3 paws up.

About the Author

Emilia Hart is a British-Australian writer. She was born in Sydney and studied English Literature and Law at the University of New South Wales before working as a lawyer in Sydney and London.

Emilia is a graduate of Curtis Brown Creative’s Three Month Online Novel Writing Course and was Highly Commended in the 2021 Caledonia Novel Award. Her short fiction has been published in Australia and the UK. “Weyward” was her debut novel. She lives in London, England.

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