Sea Hearts


Sea Hearts is a 2012 novel by Margo Lanagan. The novel is a young adult work of speculative fiction set on the fictional Rollrock Island. It explores a world in which witches have replaced all of the island's human women with selkies who are unfailingly obedient to their husbands.

Reception

In a review in Australian Book Review, Maya Linden wrote that the novel did not leave a lasting impact on the reader and that it "doesn't turn out to be quite the incomparable offering it promises". A more positive review in the Newtown Review of Books described the book as a "finely wrought, disturbing novel" that "raises unsettling questions about male desire".

Awards

YearAwardCategoryResult
2012Aurealis AwardsBest Fantasy NovelWon
2012Aurealis AwardsBest Young Adult NovelWon
2012Queensland Literary AwardsYoung Adult Book Award
2013Western Australian Premier's Book AwardsYoung AdultWon
2013Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the YearOlder ReadersWon
2013Indie Book AwardsBest Children's & YA BookWon
2013Norma K. Hemming AwardWon
2013New South Wales Premier's Literary AwardsEthel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
2013Stella Prize
2013Ditmar AwardsBest NovelWon
2014Barbara Jefferis AwardWon
2014Adelaide Festival Awards for LiteratureYoung Adult Fiction
2014International Dublin Literary Award