The Seawomen

by Chloe Timms

5 out of 5

Synopsis

Esta has known nothing but Eden's Isle her whole life. Raised by her grandmother, after a fire claimed her parents and scarred her face, she's instructed to piety, to deference, and acquiescence by a religious society that will not suffer anything else. Cut off from the moral iniquity of the mainland, the island believes it can stay free of the Seawomen - creatures from the water that came upon land to corrupt God's creation and Man. The inhabitants fear the water and believe the only way to remain virtuous is to never enter it, and for the women to conceive within 12 months of their appointed motheryear.

If they do not conceive, they're cast back into the ocean as a sacrifice in an act called the Untethering.

Esta witnesses such an act as a child. Her childhood growing up on the island is fraught with tension as she comes to the terms with the prohibitive malaise of the culture she finds herself in. Before long, she gets a taste of freedom and the potential of the world that is much larger than Eden's Isle. But she is bound, like many women before her, when she is married off and her motheryear is finally declared. Will she conceive a child in her loveless arranged marriage, or suffer the same fate of many women before her, and be Untethered?

The Seawomen is a debut novel crackling with imagination and love. It's about the choices we make and challenging the myths and ties that bind us.

Review

Esta was born and raised on Eden's Isle, where constant piety will keep you safe from the dangerous seawomen. But as Esta grows up, life on the island isn't as perfect as it seems.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The narrative follows Esta - from her earliest memories of getting rescued from the fire that killed her parents, and being raised by her pious grandmother. To being a grown woman, discovering the dark secrets of the island.

The story is slow and atmospheric. We see the world solely through Esta's eyes, and because of her connection with the other women on the island, we get to see what it is like for them, too. 

The other women all have different approaches and opinions on life on the island, and it's interesting to see that the result is the same for all of them. They all suffer in their own way.

This dystopian story is set in the future - in a world where the seas have risen, leaving survivors scattered. Some have evolved, and some have regressed.

Eden's Isle is one of the only safe places left. Life appears very simple - filled with prayer and good, honest work. There are no luxuries in Eden, everyone is equal in the eyes of God. Except women are weaker - both physically and mentally, and need the protection and guidance of men.

The seawomen are painted as the villains, blamed for everything that goes wrong. Anything from bad weather, to illness, to miscarriages - the islanders see them as signs from a displeased god that someone on the island has invited the seawomen into their thoughts.

It felt very similar to a witch-hunt, and you can feel the fear in the community. I did wonder at one point if the seawomen were real - I wouldn't be surprised if they were an invention by the men in charge.

The book is beautifully written - if a little slow-paced at times. As Esta gets older, and learns more about the island, you can feel her hope of there being more to the world, weighed down by an increasing realisation of how awful and inescapable life is.

As she grows up, and goes through all the major milestones she'd once looked forward to as a child, it instead feels like being bound more tightly to the island.

I loved the ending. I thought it was very fitting to Esta's story. Her quiet strength, and saving herself, in her own way. I liked the ambiguity of it.

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