By Margo Lanagan
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
To Sum It Up:
On Rollrock Island, everyone knows that Misskaella Prout is a sea witch. She possesses magic that allows her to shape the being inside of a seal skin into a woman of astonishing beauty. The men of the island will pay any price for Misskaella to call forth a bride from the water for them. The wives’ hearts, however, will always belong to the sea—something that Misskaella has been counting on all along.
Review:
I’ll say this right from the start: I had one of the strangest reading experiences ever with The Brides of Rollrock Island. I can’t even summarize the book adequately. There’s a woman who can weave a very special sort of magic that transforms seals into beautiful human women for any man who fancies a “sea-wife” and is willing to pay. Yes, this novel is a take on selkie lore, but it’s so much more than that. It’s also about love, loss, and revenge. And I had no idea what was going on for almost one third of the book!I’m really bad at discussing this sort of novel, the type that spends a lot of time building up the atmosphere and in which nothing significant seems to be happening, yet things are happening. I don’t know how else to describe it. The only other book I’ve read that compares in style to The Brides of Rollrock Island is Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races, which I had a hard time connecting with despite its elegant prose. I experienced déjà vu at the beginning of The Brides of Rollrock Island. There was this small island community and talk of a sea witch, and that was about all I was able to glean for a while. Margo Lanagan’s prose is unlike anything I’ve read before; it’s rich, dense, and poetic. Struggling with the rhythm of the writing made me feel pretty dense.
The narrative is seen through the eyes of several of the islanders, and where the book made its dramatic turnaround for me was in the chapters dedicated to Misskaella, the sea witch herself. Her story begins with her childhood, and it’s a miserable one. A peculiar kind of magic runs in the family, and it soon becomes apparent that Misskaella has inherited it in abundance. She becomes the topic of gossip and object of scorn all over the island for her uncanny connection with seals. I mean, these people are cruel to her, including her own family. The only person who looks upon her with anything resembling kindness is her father. Her own mother and sisters are just as vicious as the islanders are. So, when an older Misskaella starts using her magic to create selkie brides for any man who’ll pay for one, you see just how ingenious Misskaella is. At last, she’s going to have her revenge on these people who did nothing but sneer at her. And oh boy, does she ever get her revenge. When I realized what she was up to, I was absolutely stunned, and I couldn’t put the book down from this point on.
What follows is the aftermath of Misskaella’s sea wife trading business. You read the stories of several other residents, including Bet Winch, whose brother has left his wife and family for a selkie; Dominic Mallett, who returns to Rollrock to sell his father’s house only to end up leaving his human fiancée for a seal bride; and Daniel Mallett, Dominic’s son, who watches his mother grow weaker and weaker from being separated from her beloved sea. The heartbreak just ripples through the book, and it’s devastating. Lanagan really makes you consider what’s happened here. Does Misskaella take her vengeance too far, or did the islanders bring it on themselves with their derisive words and behavior? Looking back on the entire story, that’s not an easy question for me to answer. And I like that; I like books that don’t offer simple solutions.
After seriously thinking about giving up on this book even after reading nearly 100 pages, I ended up really enjoying it. I became engrossed in Misskaella’s story and the impact that the way she was treated in her youth affected the entire island. Although revenge is a central theme here, there’s also a glint of hope at the end. The Brides of Rollrock Island was not one of the most accessible YA books I’ve read, but being patient with it truly paid off. Margo Lanagan is a brilliant writer, and this is one expertly crafted novel.
All in All:
I’m not sure that this is everyone’s cup of tea, especially writing style-wise. I found it quite challenging to read, but well worth the effort. I think the best advice I can offer here is to just sit back and watch the story unfold. In the beginning, I kept thinking, “Where is this going?” instead of letting the narrative reveal itself in its own time. Had I done that from the start, I might have gotten into the story sooner.
