Allison Diegel
“Sirens” by Emilia Hart
I'm back this week with a real page-turner by an author who is sure to become a favorite. Emilia Hart’s “Sirens” is her sophomore novel – her first, “Weyward,” was one of my favorite reads a while back, and her new release, “Sirens”, is just as amazing.
If you are looking for a story that feels like a dark, salt-crusted secret, “Sirens” is the book for you. Following the success of “Weyward,” Hart returns to themes of feminine power and the untamable natural world, but this time she swaps the tangled woods for the treacherous, haunting depths of the ocean. The narrative is masterfully woven across three distinct timelines - 1800, 1999, and 2019 - connected by the rugged Australian coastline and the mysterious Comber Bay. It is the kind of book that makes you look at the shoreline with a bit more suspicion and a lot more awe.
In the 2019 timeline, we meet Lucy, a journalism student who flees to her sister Jess’s desolate cliff-top house after a terrifying sleepwalking incident. She arrives only to find Jess has vanished, leaving behind a diary from 1999 that reveals Jess’s own isolated adolescence and a rare, painful allergy to water. As Lucy digs into the past, she uncovers local rumors of men disappearing at sea and whispers of women’s voices calling from the waves. In parallel, the 1800s storyline follows Irish twin sisters Mary and Eliza, who are sentenced to transportation on a brutal convict ship. As they endure the horrific voyage, they begin to notice unexplainable physical changes in their bodies that suggest they are transforming into something better suited to the sea than to the land.
The atmosphere is arguably the best part of the experience because you can almost feel the damp mist on your skin and hear the rhythmic, hypnotic thrum of the tide as you turn the pages. It isn’t just a simple retelling of the siren myth; it’s a reclamation of it. Hart’s “Sirens” are complex figures born of necessity and survival, representing the raw, unyielding strength that refuses to be contained by a world that often tries to silence women. As the timelines eventually collide, the novel explores how trauma and power are inherited through generations, showing that these women are reclaiming a primal, dangerous agency. By the time you reach the end, you’re left with a lingering sense of wonder and a reminder that some family legacies are as deep and powerful as the ocean itself.
I hope you enjoy “Sirens” – and don't forget to check out my Instagram @allison.the.reader to find my review for Hart's first novel, “Weyward”, as well as more recommendations and book talk.
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