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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'On remote Rollrock Island, the sea-witch Misskaella discovers she can draw a girl from the heart of a seal. So, for a price, any man might buy himself a bride; an irresistibly enchanting sea-wife. But what cost will be borne by the people of Rollrock - the men, the women, the children - once Misskaella sets her heart on doing such a thing?'
Source: Publisher's website.
Notes
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Listed in 'The Horn Book Magazine's' Horn Book Fanfare : Our Choice for the Best Books of 2012 (89:1, 2013)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
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Strategic, Stylistic and Notional Intertextuality : Fairy Tales in Contemporary Australian Fiction
2018
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT Special Issue Website Series , no. 43 2018;'While Canadian scholar Lisa M Fiander argues that fairy tales are ‘everywhere’ in Australian fiction, this paper questions that assertion. It considers what it means for a fairy tale to be ‘in’ a work of contemporary fiction, and posits a classificatory system based on the vocabulary of contemporary music scholarship where a distinction is made between intertextuality that is stylistic and that which is strategic. Stylistic intertextuality is the adoption of features of a style or genre without reference to specific examples, while strategic intertexuality references specific prior works.
'Two distinct approaches to strategic fairy-tale revision have emerged in Australian writing in recent decades. One approach, exemplified in works by writers including Kate Forsyth, Margo Lanagan and Juliet Marillier, leans towards the retelling of European fairy tales. Examples include Forsyth’s The Beast’s garden (‘Beauty and the Beast’), Lanagan’s Tender morsels (‘Snow White and Rose Red’) and Marillier’s short story ‘By bone-light’ (‘Vasilisa the Beautiful’). The other, more fractured, approach is exemplified in works by writers including Carmel Bird and Murray Bail, which do not retell fairy tales but instead echo them and allude to them.
'This paper proposes that recent Australian works that retell fairy tales are less likely to be set in a recognisably Australian context than are works which take a more fractured approach to fairy tale. It also explores the notion that, presently, transporting European fairy tales, whole, into an Australian setting, seems to be a troubling proposition for writers in a post-colonial settler society that is highly sensitised to, but still largely in denial about, its colonial past.' (Publication abstract)
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Affective Strategies, Emotion Schemas, and Empathic Endings : Selkie Girls and a Critical Odyssey
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , vol. 23 no. 1 2015; (p. 17-33)Stephens' discusses retellings of selkie stories and folktales, focussing on scripts (or metanarrative strutures) and female characters. The paper looks at four works that interrogative the folktale pre-text: The Selkie Girl (Cooper and Hutton), The Seal Mother (Gerstein), Two Selkie Stories from Scotland (Forsyth), and Sea Hearts (Lanagan).
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In the Barbara Jefferis Award, a Novel about Sexual Desire among the Elderly Ties for First Prize
2014
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 7 November 2014; The Age , 7 November 2014; The Canberra Times , 7 November 2014; -
Youth Book Market Soars As Adults Look for a Literary Lift
2014
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 22 October 2014; (p. 15) -
Stella Award Women Writers Line up for Prize
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 21 March 2013; (p. 34)
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Drowning in an Ocean of Tears
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 11-12 February 2012; (p. 30) The Saturday Age , 18 February 2012; (p. 31)
— Review of Sea Hearts 2012 single work novel -
Magic Not Just for the Young
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 3 March 2012; (p. 24)
— Review of Sea Hearts 2012 single work novel -
For Kids and Teens : Sea Hearts
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 31 March - 1 April 2012; (p. 22)
— Review of Sea Hearts 2012 single work novel -
[Review] Sea Hearts
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , May no. 341 2012; (p. 57)
— Review of Sea Hearts 2012 single work novel -
[Review] Sea Hearts
2012
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 27 no. 1 2012; (p. 43-44)
— Review of Sea Hearts 2012 single work novel -
Best in Print
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 15 December 2012; (p. 30) -
Stella Award Women Writers Line up for Prize
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 21 March 2013; (p. 34) -
Reality Check for Young Readers
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 13 April 2013; (p. 27) -
Old Kids on the Block Take Titles
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 17-18 August 2013; (p. 32) The Age , 17 August 2013; (p. 29) The Canberra Times , 17 August 2013; (p. 20) -
De Kretster Lands Double in Premier's Awards
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The West Australian , 17 September 2013; (p. 6-7)
Awards
- 2014 joint winner Barbara Jefferis Award With The Night Guest.
- 2014 shortlisted Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature — Young Adult Fiction
- 2014 longlisted International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
- 2013 winner Ditmar Awards — Best Novel
- 2013 winner Norma K. Hemming Award
- Island,