August 12, 2012
The Brides of Rollrock Island
Lanagan's (Tender Morsels, 2008) second novel finds inspiration in selkie legends. Shunned for her ugliness by most everyone on Rollrock Island, Misskaela Prout grows up unloved, unmarried and feared, yet a secret joy makes life bearable. When she learns to draw forth a beautiful woman from a seal, island men set aside their human wives--girls and matrons who once ridiculed Misskaella--and pay whatever she demands for seal wives. Beautiful, strange and sad, the selkies are truly loved by the husbands and sons who refuse to see their unhappiness.