The Sirens, Emilia Hart
The Sirens, Emilia Hart
6 Rating(s)
List: $26.99 | Sale: $18.89
Club: $13.49

The Sirens
A Novel

Bestseller

Author: Emilia Hart

Narrator: Barrie Kreinik

Unabridged: 10 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/01/2025


Synopsis

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK • #1 LibraryReads Pick • Indie Next Pick

A spellbinding novel about sisters separated by centuries, but bound together by the sea, from the author of the runaway New York Times bestseller Weyward.

“Narrator Barrie Kreinik offers a first-rate performance, embodying the characters with distinctive voices and delivering Hart’s prose with graceful lyricism.”—Library Journal (starred review)

"The Sirens teems with family secrets, eerie dreams, and deep transformation. A compelling tale of sisterhood, sacrifice, and the sea, this is a beautiful follow-up to Hart's sensational debut, Weyward. The Sirens will sweep you away." —Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary

2019: Lucy awakens from a dream to find her hands around her ex-lover’s throat. Horrified, she flees to her older sister’s house on the Australian coast, hoping she can help explain the strangely vivid nightmare that preceded the attack—but Jess is nowhere to be found.

As Lucy awaits her return, the rumors surrounding Jess’s strange small town start to emerge. Numerous men have gone missing at sea, spread over decades. A tiny baby was found hidden in a cave. And sailors tell of hearing women’s voices on the waves. Desperate for answers, Lucy finds and begins to read her sister’s adolescent diary.

1999: Jess is a lonely sixteen-year-old in a rural town in the middle of the continent. Diagnosed with a rare allergy to water, she has always felt different, until her young, charming art teacher takes an interest in her drawings, seeing a power and maturity in them—and in her—that no one else has.

1800: Twin sisters Mary and Eliza have been torn from their loving father in Ireland and forced onto a convict ship bound for Australia. For their entire lives, they’ve feared the ocean, as their mother tragically drowned when they were just girls. Yet as the boat bears them further and further from all they know, they begin to notice changes in their bodies that they can’t explain, and they feel the sea beginning to call to them…

A breathtaking tale of female resilience and the bonds of sisterhood across time and space, The Sirens captures the power of dreams, and the mystery and magic of the sea.

This program includes a bonus conversation with the author.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

About Emilia Hart

Emilia Hart is the author of Weyward and The Sirens. She grew up in Australia and studied English Literature at university before training as a lawyer. She now lives in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Emily May on January 10, 2025

I do not think I would have finished this book if I hadn't received an arc. Now, looking at the book page on Goodreads, I see a number of people DNFed it for a lot of the same reasons I wanted to. Hart's Weyward was a very pleasant surprise for me last year. It was also the whole reason I couldn't wa......more

Goodreads review by Shelley's Book Nook on March 27, 2025

My Reviews Can Also Be Found On: The Book Review Crew Blog I loved the author's first book Weyward, and in this one, she weaves historical mystery and drama wonderfully. The bonds of sisterhood in the two timelines drew me to this title. There's lots of trauma, but these sisters are strong, espec......more

Goodreads review by Terrie on April 15, 2025

The Sirens is the story of two sets of sisters, centuries apart, mysteriously linked by the wonder of dreams and the allure of the sea. In 2019, the primary setting is on the coast of New South Wales, Australia, where two sisters, Lucy and Jess, are searching for answers from the past... In 1800, the......more

Goodreads review by Maeghan 🦋 HIATUS on & off on September 02, 2024

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! One thing about me is I get scared easily and this creeped me out for a good 60% of the book. It was so eerie and dark and cold. The author’s writing was definitely captivating and compelling. This was definitely a feminist tale and depicted resili......more

Goodreads review by Debra on November 12, 2024

Told in two timelines, The Sirens was a thought provoking book about sisters, strength, secrets, and determination. I really enjoyed The Sirens despite it being a tad slow in the beginning. I enjoyed the 'finding out who you are' aspect of this book. I also enjoyed the relationships and the themes o......more


Quotes

"The Sirens entices us with the combination of mesmerising beauty mixed with mortal danger. Hart skillfully entwines mystical aspects into what could be construed as part-fairytale, but its multiple timeframes and historical settings are firmly grounded." —Historical Novel Society

"Hart’s second novel (after Weyward) weaves a lyrical story, intricately blending family dynamics with the magic of folklore. For fans of family relationship stories with elements of magical realism, such as the novels of Sarah Addison Allen." Library Journal

"Full of allure and brimming with undercurrents of buried secrets... The Sirens is beautifully written and utterly compelling." Evie Woods, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lost Bookshop

"The Sirens is an absolutely immersive, utterly captivating puzzle box of a novel, both gripping and heart-wrenching. Hart is a gorgeously emotive storyteller." Ellery Lloyd, New York Times bestselling author

"Evocative and compelling, The Sirens is a deeply layered mystery, and a luminous ode to the sea and sisterhood. Written with Emila Hart's assured and shimmering prose, the story is as hopeful as it is heart-wrenching." Lucy Clarke, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Girls

"I absolutely adored this powerful, beguiling novel, steeped in magic, mystery and the wild forces of the ocean. A testament to the unbreakable bond of sisterhood and the eerie echoes of history, it weaved its way into my heart and lingered long after the last page. So vivid, Emilia Hart must have saltwater running through her veins." —Lizzie Pook, author of Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter

"Emilia Hart takes the reader on a mythical journey through time, evoking ancient tales of the sea and female bonds that are tested but never broken. The Sirens surprises and delights and allows us as readers to imagine a world where myth and reality collide. A beautiful and propulsive story full of love and intrigue. A remarkable read!" Amanda Peters, bestselling author of The Berry Pickers

"Enthralling, compelling, poignant." Bridget Collins, #1 internationally bestselling author of The Binding

"What a gorgeous book this is. Wistful, haunting, drenched in seaweed and a frothy tide, a beautiful story about sisterhood and the ocean. I just loved it." CJ Cooke, author of The Lighthouse Witches

"The Sirens teems with family secrets, eerie dreams, and deep transformation. A compelling tale of sisterhood, sacrifice, and the sea, this is a beautiful follow-up to Hart's sensational debut, Weyward. The Sirens will sweep you away." —Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary

"Absolutely wonderful. It’s a profoundly moving and rich historical story wrapped up in a contemporary murder mystery. I was transported by Mary and Eliza’s terrible journey and delighted by the well-earned ending to the modern tale, too – justice served" —Rosie Andrews, author of The Leviathan

"Emilia Hart’s storytelling is powerfully chameleonic: smart, propulsive, familiar, otherworldly, and deeply evocative. Reading her work is to be reminded that at any time we choose, we can take agency of our own lives, and how powerful our voices can be when we use them to claim that agency." Holly Ringwald, internationally bestselling author

Praise for Weyward

"Powerful." New York Times Book Review

"A brave and original debut, Weyward is a spellbinding story about what may transpire when the natural world collides with a legacy of witchcraft." —Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author

"A totally unique debut that shines a light on the female experience. I loved it." —Gillian McAllister, New York Times bestselling author

"The writing is beautiful, the women are wonderful, and each narrative is as compelling as the next. Alive, vivid, gripping. Real magic." —Abigail Dean, New York Times bestselling author

"An utterly absorbing page turner. This is an outstanding debut and worthy of all the stars." —Abi Daré, New York Times bestselling author