Sea Hearts

Sea Hearts
AuthorMargo Lanagan
GenreFiction
PublisherAllen & Unwin
Publication date
1 February 2012
Publication placeAustralia
Pages360
ISBN9781742375052

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.[1][2]

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".[3] 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".[4]

Awards

Awards for Sea Hearts
Year Award Category Result Ref.
2012 Aurealis Awards Best Fantasy Novel Won [5]
Aurealis Awards Best Young Adult Novel Won [5]
Queensland Literary Awards Young Adult Book Award Shortlisted [6]
2013 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards Young Adult Won [7]
Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Older Readers Won [8]
Indie Book Awards Best Children's & YA Book Won [9]
Norma K. Hemming Award Won [10]
New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature Shortlisted [11]
Stella Prize Shortlisted [2]
Ditmar Awards Best Novel Won [12]
2014 Barbara Jefferis Award Won [13]
Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Young Adult Fiction Shortlisted [14]
International Dublin Literary Award Longlisted [15]

References

  1. ^ "Allen & Unwin". Sea Hearts. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Sea Hearts". Stella Prize. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  3. ^ Linden, Maya (May 2012). "Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan". Australian Book Review. No. 341. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  4. ^ Funnell, Linda (13 March 2012). "Sea Hearts". Newtown Review of Books. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Sea Hearts". Books+Publishing. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  6. ^ McDonald, Andrew (20 August 2012). "Queensland Literary Awards 2012 Shortlists Announced". Readings. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  7. ^ "2012 Winners". State Library of Western Australia. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  8. ^ "Winners 2013". Children's Book Council of Australia. Archived from the original on 14 April 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  9. ^ "The 2013 Indie Awards Shortlist Announced". Readings. 29 January 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  10. ^ "Lanagan Wins Hemming Award". Locus Magazine. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  11. ^ "NSW Premier's Literary Awards shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 11 April 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  12. ^ "2013 Ditmar Award Winners". Locus Magazine. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  13. ^ "Lanagan, McFarlane joint winners of 2014 Barbara Jefferis Award". Books+Publishing. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  14. ^ "Adelaide literature awards shortlist". InDaily. 10 December 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2025.
  15. ^ "Dublin Literary Award 2014". Dublin Literary Award. Retrieved 24 August 2025.