**5/5 Stars – Lyrical, Haunting, and Utterly Captivating**

Emilia Hart’s *The Sirens* is a beautifully written, spellbinding tale that weaves mythology, mystery, and powerful storytelling into an unforgettable read. With lush prose and an atmospheric setting, this novel lingers like an enchanting melody long after the final page.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin Press for the ARC of The Sirens! This was so beautifully written. The stories between the women of this book was so emotional and thought provoking. It immediately grabbed my heart and did not let go.

Pulls you deep into the belly of the sea and makes you fall in love with it.

After the runaway success of her scintillating debut Weyward, Emilia Hart is back with another enchanting novel that portrays sisterhood spanning centuries, exploring their intrinsic connection to the shores of a remote bay in the coast of New South Wales, Australia.

Thanks St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

Synopsis -

2019 - Lucy finds herself awake from a nightmare with her hands around her ex-lover’s throat. She has no choice but to seek refuge in her sister, Jess’ “Cliffhouse” in Comber Bay.

1800 - Twin sisters Mary and Eliza leave Ireland and their father on an Australian bound convict ship that transports English prisoners.
The sea and it’s pristine waters are the only common factors that will intertwine these sisters lives across continents and generations.

Review -

First of all, it is the writing that makes a world of difference to this book. @emiliahart has a way with words - as she blends the threads of these sisters’ lives, with the beauty and magic of the ocean, describing its sights and smells, sounds and melodies.

Secondly it is the atmospheric evocation and the exotic settings - Hart creates an all immersive, bewitching world both in Ireland and Australia that provides a pure, heightened sensory pleasure and sheer escapisim for us readers.

Embedded into the story are decades old family secrets, powerful sisterly bond that can withstand the test of times, history and horrors of convict transportation during those times from England to Australia -everything sprinkled with a bit of mythology, magical realism and hints of fantastical elements.

#TheSirens bring out a perspective shifting new dimension of feminism, shadowing resilience and the true essence of female relationships through rich characterisation, vivid imagination and eloquent storytelling.

Highly recommend if you love historical fiction and magical realism!

There are some books that completely sweep you away, and The Sirens was one of them for me. This novel had everything I love—atmospheric writing, layered characters, and a haunting, almost hypnotic storyline that lingers long after the last page.

From the very first chapter, I was hooked. The story moves between three different timelines—2019, 1999, and 1800—yet it never feels disjointed or overwhelming. Instead, the threads of the narrative weave together beautifully, creating a mystery that slowly unfolds in the most mesmerizing way.

Lucy’s story in 2019 starts off with such an eerie, unsettling moment—waking up with her hands around her ex-lover’s throat and no memory of why. That alone had me turning pages, desperate to understand what was happening. Then there’s Jess in 1999, an isolated teenager struggling with a rare water allergy, and finally, Mary and Eliza in 1800, twin sisters forced onto a convict ship where they begin to experience changes that defy logic.

The way Emilia Hart writes about the sea is stunning—it feels alive, almost like a character itself, both beautiful and terrifying. And the themes of sisterhood, power, and transformation are woven so intricately into the plot that it never feels forced. I loved how the book played with folklore and mythology while keeping the emotional core so grounded and real.

It’s rare to find a book that balances mystery, historical fiction, and a touch of the supernatural this well, but The Sirens absolutely delivers. The pacing was just right, the characters were compelling, and the twists felt natural rather than predictable.

If you love books with a moody, atmospheric vibe—think The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue or The Lighthouse Witches—then this one is definitely worth picking up. I truly enjoyed it, and I think it’s one of those stories that will stay with me for a long time.

Highly recommend—this was a fantastic read!

Wow! I flew through this book! This was so compulsively readable! The story follows Lucy, who wakes up strangling a classmate at university. Shocked by what she has done, she flees to find help from her older sister, Jess. When she arrives at Jess’s new house, her sister is not there. What unfolds is a wild story, between two sisters, and a mysterious shipwreck in the early 1800s, just off the coast where Jess is living.

I could not put this book down! I had to solve all of the mysteries with Lucy: what had happened to her sister, what had happened to Mary and Eliza, the women on the shipwreck in the 1800s that Lucy is dreaming about, and the mystery of Jess’s high school diary. This was SO GOOD! The magical realism elements were woven into this stunning dark tale of sisterhood and the resilience of women.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the eARC copy of this book.

From Goodreads:

Sirens Summary:
Lucy and Jess are sisters who have become estranged. Jess always seems like she’s hiding something and Lucy notices that difference. But when Lucy gets into trouble at school, with nowhere else to turn, she heads to her sister’s new house. The problem is... she isn’t there.

As she stays at her sisters house, she starts to unearth some oddities about the town, her connection with it and the link to a skin condition she has had since birth which makes her unable to go in water.

She also starts to have weird vivid dreams about two sisters who have a connection to the town many years ago.

Thoughts:
FIRSTLY, thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of this book in advance of release.

I just love the lyrical nature of Emilia Hart’s writing. The way she weaves Mary, Eliza, Lucy and Jess’ stories together is truly poetic.

This story of sisterly love and overcoming hardships was fantastic. Overall, I really enjoyed this story of love and family and can’t wait for it to come out.

CONGRATULATIONS to Emilia on her novel

Emilia Hart is a master at writing stories set in multiple timelines. The Sirens follows two sets of sisters, one set trapped on a prisoner’s ship in the early 1800s and one set struggling through obstacles in present day. Both storylines were captivating and intriguing and extremely well-written.

Thank you to @NetGalley for the ARC!

The Sirens follows two sets of sisters -- Eliza and Mary, who are on a convict ship bound for Australia, and Jess and Lucy, who are in modern times -- each of whom feels a strange draw to the sea, even though they've spent their whole lives being told to avoid it.

This novel spans multiple timelines and points of view from women who have been wronged by men in different ways. If it sounds a lot like Weyward (Emilia Hart's first novel) except in Austrialia instead of England and with merrow (mermaids) instead of witches, that's because it is very similar. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing! Both novels are very entertaining and speak poignantly to the experience of women who have been hurt by men who are in positions of power over them.

3.75/5 stars

In her 'Acknowledgments', author Emiila Hart writes, "Fundamentally, this novel is about the ability of water - and sisterhood - to heal and transform." I thought this was a lovely way for her to describe her work, and the feelings I took as a reader about her characters by the end of this magical story. This novel connects present day Lucy and her much older sister Jess (both battling their own questions of family, identity, and belonging) with the history of a pair of sisters (convicts) who are being forced to sail for many months to their own exile back in 1800. As many popular books now do, the story goes back and forth between the two timelines, revealing mysteries little by little and exploring the power of female justice in the face of abuse from cruel, abusive men throughout history. It's a great story for those who love mythology involving the sea, magical realism, and the beauty and power of female connection with one another. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

If you loved Weyward, The Sirens is definitely worth the read! Emilia Hart once again delivers a beautifully atmospheric and immersive story, weaving history and magical realism seamlessly. The writing is stunning, and the themes of resilience and female strength shine through. While I really enjoyed it, I didn’t connect with the story quite as much as Weyward, but it’s still a compelling and well-crafted read. Definitely recommend for fans of lyrical, historical fiction with a touch of magic!

This very atmospheric story is about two sets of sisters whose lives are separated by over 200 hundred years but are somehow intertwined. In the 1800's, Mary & Eliza are aboard a ship carrying approximately 80 female convicts heading towards South Wales, but never make it because the ship ends up sinking. Most of these women were imprisoned for crimes against men who have done them wrong. Fast forward to 2019, where Jess & Lucy both have recurring dreams about this very ship & wake up most nights in a cold sweat as if they were actually aboard the ship and experiencing the atrocities that occurred on the ship. The book goes back & forth between the two time periods. Jess & Lucy make their way to the site of the shipwreck trying to find answers for their connections. Along the way, there are many secrets revealed. This book is about the resilience of women living in a world where men continue to commit atrocities against them but are never truly held accountable. Sometimes women just have to take matters in their own hands.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

I really wanted to love this one, but it was not for me.

There was pretty much no plot, and nothing to hook the reader. I found myself not really reaching for this one and not caring to really finish it.

The writing was beautiful, but unfortunately, that was not enough for me to enjoy this one.

I struggled with how to rate this book. On one hand, it was unique and beautifully written. I had theories about where the book was going but they seemed implausible so I wrote them off for most of the book and felt like I didn’t really know where the story was headed. As it turns out, things were not so implausible but it felt like, after a lot of build up, what felt like large issues were quickly and vaguely resolved. I ended the book feeling unsettled and unsure of how to feel.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for the ARC.

The Sirens, like Hart's previous novel Weyward, follows women in three different timelines. I found the story to be highly emotional throughout. At times it was so poignant that I struggled to keep reading. The journey that these characters undergo is tragic and beautiful.

A 4.5 out of 5 and it has made Emilia Hart an instant-buy for me in the future.

ARC/ALC BOOK REVIEW

The Sirens by Emilia Hart
5 STARS

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press, for the #free eARC and to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary ALC of this book! Tag Author

SYNOPSIS: “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 rumors 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.”

REVIEW: After reading and loving Weyward, I was absolutely thrilled to get an eARC and ALC of The Sirens.

Hart is an expert at weaving stories, mythologies, and multiple timelines, which is really the standout of this book. She brings an eerie, highly feminist, and extensively researched world to life as story moves (and bleeds) between the contemporary and historical plots of the story.

The intertextual nature of the book (with references to The Odyssey and other mythologies) was lovely and well done. It is immediately clear how thoroughly research and meticulously situated this story is in terms of the history of Australia and interwoven supernatural elements.

Audiobook narrator Barrie Kreinik does a superb job capturing Hart’s words, especially with the various accents of the Irish women of the 1800s and the Australian characters of present day.

The Sirens is a clear must-read for 2025!

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub date: 4/1/25

3.75 ⭐️

I want to express my gratitude to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC. I must admit that I wasn’t particularly invested in the story during the first 30% of the book. In my opinion, it was quite slow-paced. Additionally, I’m not a fan of books that alternate between different storylines or combine two stories in a way that somehow makes sense.

However, as the story progressed, I began to gain a stronger interest in it. When Lucy started reading Jessica’s journals, I felt like I was intruding on Jessica’s life, and this capture my interest. I must say that I wasn’t expecting the unexpected plot twists and connections in the epilogue.

60/100 or 3.0 stars


I liked the writing itself, but as I was reading the interest was draining with each chapter. I got through 25% of the book and next to nothing was really happening. I read lots of reviews that said the same, but wanted to read as far as I could to give the story a chance, but I couldn't do it. If I finished it, I probably wouldn't have given higher than 3 stars anyway, so I figured I would prevent myself from reading something I am clearly not enjoying just to say I finished it. I might try something from Hart in the future to give them another chance, as I have not tried Wayward yet.

This is my first book by the author and I was super excited to read it. However I felt that the 2 timelines
didnt mesh well in my opinion. I also knew the whole book about 20 percent in so it didn't keep my interest to keep going. It has so many good things they just didn't come together for me the way I had hoped. I still want to read her other book because her writing is good, just the flow and pacing needed improvement in this book

Emilia Hart has found her voice in the siren’s song.

Mysterious magical realism combines with Australian folklore in this dual-timeline story of sisters: Mary and Eliza aboard the convict ship, the Naiad, and Lucy and Jess, living in modern day New South Wales.

Hart’s characters are superbly well-developed; her historical settings are immersive. She transports you to the lower deck of the ship where Irish women jailed for petty theft wonder if they’ll reach the other shore of this voyage - and if it’s worth staying alive for the horrors which await them.

Far away from the sea, investigative journalist college undergrad Lucy runs away to visit her big sister Jess when she needs her advice most. But Lucy may find more answers than she bargained for when stories of strangers hit too close to home.

I’m sticking with four stars out of five because of a few chinks in the plot armor that left me unsatisfied at its ending, but I would still very much recommend it to lovers of historical fiction - especially for fans of The Unmaking of June Farrow.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Emilia Hart for an ARC of The Sirens.

Part historical fiction, part folklore, The Sirens takes these two elements and mixes them together with magical realism to create an unusual mystery. In a dual narrative, the historical fiction focuses on the fact that female convicts from Ireland and Britain were transported to Australia. The novel focuses on two specific female convicts from Ireland, sisters Mary and Eliza, and tells their story from 1801. Their story alternates with the present day narrative wherein Lucy and her sister Jess are each facing personal conflicts that resolve in rather unusual ways. They discover the unbreakable bond they have to each other as well as to their parents and also their strange connection to Mary and Eliza. I found the Epilogue a fascinating way of bringing the story full circle.

At times I felt that the tale was moving too slowly and in too much detail. But by the time I got to Part Two, the narrative picked up the pace and started to bring into play all sorts of unique details for both Mary and Eliza as well as for Jess and Lucy. While I ultimately enjoyed the way this novel played out, I much preferred Emilia Hart's first novel, Weyward.