Maybe this is the retelling of witch hunts or maybe this is the depiction of what could happen to women in the future.
It was a fascinating read, full of food for thought.
The author is a brilliant storyteller and I loved the world building and the characters.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

4.5 stars

Headlines:
Feminist, fantastical, fuming
Misogyny wrapped in religious abuse
Impeccable description, atmospheric

What a debut this book is. It was fresh, tense and the themes were dark and sad but it was a read that will stay with you and impact you. The story encapsulated the experiences of a young girl, Esta as she journeyed into adulthood. This island she resided on was set in a dystopian future but in a community that had removed themselves from the world to live in a bigoted, patriachial and abusive religious community, all about control.

This story evoked such an impressively described setting. I immediately began to imagine St Kilda or the Faroe Islands until later I realised the setting was more Shetlands or Orkney. The life this community lead was miserable and fearful...they were fearful of the seawomen. The sea was seen as evil to women and women were treated like potential witches of old.

How the story rolled out was unexpected, how Esta evolved as she grew was the kind of situation you couldn't look away from, willing her on, telling her to persevere and not capitulate. There were a few men that had moments of empathy and Bennett was just about the only reasonable man. The women were not a community because the men in power caused a divisive atmosphere.

The second half of the book had me glued to the page, hoping for Esta, wanting her free.

I highly recommend this book for all my feminist reading friends. It has everything, a touch of dystopia, a touch of fantasy and a bucket load of great writing.

Thank you to Hodder Studio for the review copy.

Esta is an outsider in an extreme religious community, which eeks out a wild existence somewhere in the north sea, shunning outsiders and in particular, the fabled 'seawomen''. Women of the island must resist the dark influence of the seawomen through constant hardwork, devotion to duty and having children. .But Esta is irresistably drawn to the sea, where she meets another outsider, Cal.

This novel borrows heavily on The Handmaid's Tale and also reminded me strongly of Kiran MIllwood Hargrave's 'The Mercies'. I enjoyed both of those, and I loved this too. The religious dogma and control is particularly well done, and the stifling life of the island is really vivid. The novel is well-paced and dramatic and I couldn't stop reading. The sections of the novel where Esta is with Cal are at times a bit less convincing and perhaps could have been more developed, in order to add depth to their love story. All in all though, great read and I really look forward to more from this talented, imaginative author.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest review.

Plot: The Seawomen is a feminist dystopian novel with fantastical elements. Esta has known nothing but Eden's Isle her whole life. She was raised in a deeply religious society who fears what lurks beneath the water - a corrupting evil the islanders call the Seawomen. The women of the island are controlled in every aspect of their lives and must conceive a child within their appointed motheryear or be cast into the sea as a sacrifice. When Esta witnesses a woman gets sacrificed she sees a future to fear. Her fate awaits, a loveless marriage, her motheryear declared. And after a brief taste of freedom, Esta begins to question everything she knows.

Review: What a brilliant and unique debut novel! 👏🏼 I am extremely impressed. The book was so gripping, I couldn’t stop reading. However, I had to put the book down a few times, because the misogyny and patriarchy in the book made me furious and sad. 🤬 I was rooting for Esta from the beginning, even though I guessed what was going to happen. I really felt for her and sympathised with her. The Seawomen made me tear up a few times and after finishing it I felt empty. 😭 This is such a powerful book and definitely one of my favourite books of the year so far. 🙌🏼

I recommend this book to everyone who would like to read an emotional dystopian fantasy novel about a fierce female main character. The Seawomen deals with important topics like feminism, partriarchy, misogyny, motherhood and childlessness. ❗️

CW: misogyny, sexual harassment, mention of rape, homophobia, infertility, pregnancy, death of parent, infidelity

The Seawomen by Chloe Timms

The memory of that day is a part of me now, tough like hardened skin. You never forget your first. You hope and pray it will be the last you ever see. You already know. Deep down. It’ll happen again and you will have to watch. The screaming, the waiting, watching her body tied down, the boat rocking and shunting, capsizing. Drowning. The point where you can see with your own eyes what it means to be a woman.

Wow! This book was really evocative both through the landscape and the way of life followed by it’s inhabitants. It felt oppressive, bleak and strangely mystical. On an isolated island with no access to the ‘Otherlands’ beyond, a religious community observes a strict regime policed by male Keepers and female Eldermothers under the guidance of Father Jessop. There were real shades of The Handmaid’s Tale in this community, that polices it’s borders and it’s women. Women must not go near the water, lest they be pulled into the wicked ways of the Seawomen, a species of Mermaids that can breed rebellion in the women and cause bad luck for the islanders. Any woman could be singled out by the Eldermothers, so they must learn to keep their heads down and stay away from the water. Any bad luck - crop failure, poor fishing quotas, storms, pregnancy loss - all can be blamed on disobedient or disloyal women, influenced by the water. Each girl will have their husband picked out for them and once married, the Eldermothers will assign her a year to become a mother. If the woman doesn’t conceive she is considered to be cursed and is put through the ordeal of ‘untethering’ - a ceremonial drowning where she is tethered to the bottom of a boat. Esta is a young girl who lives with her super religious grandmother and has never known her own mother. Her grandmother insists she sees a darkness in Esta and is constantly praying and fasting so that Esta doesn’t go the same way as her mother. The sea does call to Esta and she goes to the beach with her terrified friend Mull, to feel the water. There they see something in the waves, something semi-human, not a seawoman, but a boy. Will Esta submit to what her community has planned for her or will she continue to commune with the water?

The book opens with a description of an untethering ceremony, throwing us directly into the brutality of the Keepers and the terror of the drowning woman. It’s a visceral opening and cleverly leaves the reader very aware of the fate our heroine could face. I felt this really added to the atmosphere of the book, raising the tension and our trepidation for this bold and intelligent young woman. We don’t want to see her life mapped out for her with all the restrictions it implies, but we equally don’t want to see her become the next victim of this barbaric, patriarchal society. I also felt strangely unmoored by the setting. I saw in my mind’s eye, a rugged and weather beaten Scottish isle, miles from it’s neighbours, yet I couldn’t pinpoint it’s place in history. The clothing and the attitudes are strangely old-fashioned. The religion is very puritan in tone: a personal relationship with God is encouraged, along with modesty, industry, male domination and of course obedience. Having been brought up in an evangelical church I can honestly say these attitudes and expectations, especially the pressure on young women, is still alive and well in those types of communities. So we could be in the 19th Century or it could be yesterday. Father Jessop’s preaching is that that Otherlands are toxic, their land contaminated and their ability to produce wholesome food curtailed by their inability to listen to their God. This gave me the sense of a dystopian future, where perhaps global warming has decimated most of the planet and only these remote outposts survive. Adding to this sense of disorientation are the islander’s names, more like surnames than forenames the men names like Morley or Ingram whereas the women are called Seren and Mull. I felt was genuinely uneasy about the island and felt something evil lurked under the piety and the fatherly control, something far uglier, that a rebel like Esta might awaken.

Esta’s questing mind is what drives the story forward. There are too many secrets in her background. She knows that the burn scarring on one side of her face happened when she was a baby and the house burned down killing her mother and whoever else was inside. Only Esta survived and her grandmother’s negativity surrounding her only daughter is excessive and this doesn’t allow Esta to ask questions or hear about a different side to her mother. She knows that there’s more to her history than she’s been told. Another conundrum is her grandmother’s cousin Barrett, a fisherman who lives by the harbour, as close to the water as he could be. He lives alone after the death of his wife and is possibly the only islander to have come across a Seawoman up close and was injured in the process. However, he doesn’t talk about his wife or where he went in the sea after her death. There are too many questions for a girl who’s already unsure whether she believes in the dark myths of the Seawomen, or the darkness she is potentially harbouring at her centre. Despite her upbringing there is a part of Esta that does question, that challenges and most importantly can accept that those in authority might be wrong. It’s a self belief and confidence that will stand her in good stead for what’s to come.

I had so many suspicions and theories of my own as the story unfolded, not just about Esta’s past, but about the patriarchal society itself. The last third of the book really did pick up the pace and we see the iron will of Father Jessop and the cruelty he is prepared to inflict in order to stay in control. I was so deeply pulled in by Esta’s will and her instinct to get away, that I felt anxious. I wanted her to have something in life that most of us take for granted, another person who truly cares for her and loves her. This feeling intensified as she is promised in marriage and goes to live with her husband’s family; a family who have a very low opinion of her and a husband who loves someone else. The way the author opens up the truth of the island is by using one of the women to open up to Esta. The midwife has the answers and also shows Esta that there are others who think the way she does, but fly under the radar so they remain safe. To Esta this is unthinkable, to know the truth but continue to live under the false tyranny imposed on them feels cowardly to her. What will happen when the Esta’s story reaches its conclusion, when she might face the very ceremony she feared so much at the beginning. Will these free thinking individuals stand up for her? Even more important to me, was whether or not Esta reaches the Otherlands and her expected freedom, or whether she is fated to be forever one with the sea.

The Seawomen is a great debut novel, it's intelligent, completely engrossing and beautifully crafted. I was immediately drawn into Esta's world, a world which is oppressed and controlling, and one in which the bonds that tie us can also break us. You could feel how trapped Esta was and the claustrophobia that threatens to take over throughout the story, the characters were rich, descriptive and complicated. This is a unique story and not what I expected at all, I saw it described as The Handmaid's Tale meets The Shape of Water which I think is an excellent description.

As a side note, the cover of this book is beautiful.

I absolutely loved this enchanting, magical story. It is well written, and the characters are ones I won't forget. The storyline drew me in and kept me captured right to the end. The themes, the genre-blending, the pace, the plot; everything about this book was exciting and intriguing, and I look forward to reading more for this spectacular author.

4.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2022/06/09/the-seawomen-by-chloe-timms/
My Five Word TL:DR Review : A Powerful Tale of Oppression

Wow this book. I barely know where to begin to be honest. Thought provoking. Anger inducing. Beautifully written. Quite literally I’ve been sitting here for an age just trying to form words. I’ve deleted what I’ve written over and over because it just doesn’t begin to express my feelings and even now I’m puzzled about exactly where to begin and I know that I’m not going to be able to do this book justice.

Set on the Island of Eden this is a story that is as far from paradise as you can imagine. A small, claustrophobic world where under the guise of religious piety men rule supreme and the women of the island live under the constant threat of suspicion. Think witch hunts, think neighbour turning upon neighbour, think living under the doctrines of religious zealots where young girls are brought up witnessing atrocities to keep them under a yolk of fear.

By way of background. My take on the world here is as follows. The inhabitants of Eden are akin to a religious cult who have left the trappings of the modern world behind to live a more simple life (although this seems to be set in a near future where the sea water has risen). The people are kept in the dark, and in their place, by a barrage of constant fear mongering, bullying and coercive behaviour with an extra layer of control being added by the natural isolation of the island setting, the fact that people here are not only not taught to swim but are brought up to fear the water and what it contains and any deviations in behaviour are basically seen as evil.

The central characters of the story are Esta. A young woman, brought up by her grandmother after the death of her parents in a terrible fire. Esta is marked with a foreboding question mark from an early age., tarnished by the unknown actions of her mother and constantly watched for any deviations in behaviour. Esta’s grandmother is a staunch believer in the ethos of the island and raises Esta with a stern hand. Constantly drumming into her the words of the Book they live by and keeping her down by fasting, harsh treatment and lack of love. Father Jessop is the Island’s leader. All I can say about this character is there is not one single thing about him that I liked. He’s absolutely awful and he actually filled me with dread. He pervades the story with a sense of ever watchful menace.

In terms of the plot. Well, this is Esta’s story. We watch her grow from a young, fearful girl, filled with questions and doubt and natural curiosity to a woman who finds out that not everything she’s been told is true. The islanders are kept in constant fear of the water by the myth of the Seawomen and their evil ways. The women of Eden are not permitted to go into the water and in fact even looking at it wistfully can lead to vicious rumours. Like all the other women of the island, Esta will eventually be expected to marry, more often than not an arranged marriage, where she will carry out her duty, look after her husband and bear children. Everything here is about control. Lack of teaching to keep people ignorant, even the year that a woman can bear children is managed and if she fails to become pregnant within the year named for her – well, the consequences are dire. Known as the Untethering, women who fail their ‘motheryear’ are thought to have given in to evil and are basically tied up and sent in a small boat to drown in the strong waves that surround the harbour. Esta, her natural curiosity driving her to extremes, finds love in an unexpected place and pushes the boundaries but the restraints of the Island are starting to close around her and she’s basically living on borrowed time.

What I really love about this book. The writing is amazing, evocative and quite hypnotic. This is a writer who can push your buttons in the most outstanding way, I found myself gripped at times, furious at times, unable to stop reading for the most part (because – sleep). The fantasy elements are quite minimal, I would say this is magical realism where a lot of the book relies on hearsay and word of mouth. We do meet creatures from the sea but these meetings are brief so don’t go into this expecting The Little Mermaid. In fact I love the twist here in that the monsters are those on the land not in the water. I think this could be read as a dystopian coming of age tale of one woman’s journey to live life on her own terms and conditions or you can read much more into it. An allegory of oppression, a fear of anything different.

In terms of criticisms. For myself I don’t have any. But, I would say that this can be quite a dark read and in the middle the pace definitely slows a little. But, the ending is packed with tension and there are moments of love and also hope.

Overall, I found this a beautifully written and compelling read. Shocking, at times anger inducing at others, tense, strained and absolutely unputdownable.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

3.8 stars

One Liner: The pacing is off but worth reading

Eden’s Isle has been Esta’s home forever. Being raised by her overly strict and God-fearing grandmother suffocated and scared Esta. She lost her parents and got scarred (on the face) in the same fire accident when Esta was three.
She grew up fearing the seawomen and yearning to enter the water. Living on a small island with rules established for women to be virtuous and pious affected Esta in many ways. She witnesses the Untethering (women who cannot conceive are dropped back into the sea as a sacrifice).
Years pass, and Esta is married to a man decided by the Elders. Her motheryear has been decided by the Eldermothers. Can Esta conceive before the time is up, or will she be sacrificed to the sea? Is there any hope for the women on the tiny island who have to act according to the rules of the Elders?
The story comes from Esta in the first-person POV.

My Observations:

The setting of the cult island is as dark and depressing as the theme. Get into the book with the right expectations to feel the oppressive mood of the island.
The shift/ progress in Esta’s thoughts from her childhood to pre-teens to teenage is done well. However, she sounds the same at all ages. And she continues to sound more like a guest than a resident. Not to mention, she’s also more self-aware than other characters in the book.
The characterization of Sarl (Esta’s grandmother) and Father Jossops was spot on. Their presence was a constant thing in the book. Sometimes, I felt these two outshone Esta in characterization.
The tone is almost distanced and gets a little monotonous in the middle. It’s more like Esta is explaining things to the reader. The slow pacing doesn’t help either. Things start to happen after 75%.
There’s a bit of fantasy (if you can call it that) but nothing spectacular. This works for the story as it kings things rooted in reality.
The theme isn’t that unique per se (witch trials, abuse by church heads, oppression of women, etc.). However, that doesn’t take anything away from the book. I won’t compare it with The Handmaid’s Tale because I haven’t read it yet (don’t judge me).
This book belongs to Esta. It doesn’t belong to the island or anyone else. The setting has been created for her, which means the closure comes only for Esta. There is no blanket ending.
The writing has a very YA feel to it until towards the end. This should work for older teens who don’t mind reading depressing and dark subjects.
Since this is a dystopian setting, suspension of belief is necessary. Some things seem farfetched, but the story demands them to be that way. Take it in stride.
The ending is the highlight of the book. I would’ve loved an epilogue, though. The Untethering chapter acts as a prologue, so it’s only fair to have an epilogue.
My major grouse with the book is the lack of mermaids. The entire plot is hinged on the seawomen, and we hardly get to see one. The tiny instances don’t count. I think I wanted more from the book, which left me a little dissatisfied.

To sum up, The Seawomen is a slow-paced dystopian drama with powerful evil characters. Looking forward to more releases by the author.

Thank you, NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Have you ever stood on a beach and looked out across the sea, towards the horizon, and wondered what else is out there...?
I do not have enough words in my vocabulary to describe how much I adored 'The Seawomen'!
Set on an island isolated from the rest of the world, 'The Seawomen' follows Esta from infanthood to adolescence in an environment reminiscent of the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries. Eden's Isle is a deeply religious land, led by Father Jessop and his Ministers who preside over the community. Despite being surrounded by the sea, however, they live in fear of the water's - or rather the monsters' living in it - influence on their women. The people of Eden's Isle have been made to believe that the Seawomen who live in the waters around their land exist to corrupt their women and bring destruction to their community. Father Jessop wields the word of God as a weapon, ensuring that his people remain under his control. And if rumour begins to spread that a woman on the island has been cursed by the Seawomen, her fate is disastrous...
Chloe Timms captures the very essence of the sea and its power in such a beautiful, thrilling way that had me feeling like I'd been caught by the Seawomen myself! Her descriptions of the caves, harbours, and coves were so vividly detailed with sensory imagery that I became quickly engrossed in the world of the book. I could smell the brine and hear the gulls overhead! She was also great with writing characters and drawing out their development throughout the narrative, especially with Esta, the protagonist. Her transformation from the beginning to the end of the book was incredibly powerful and great to experience!
There are so many themes that are explored in 'The Seawomen' too - feminism, religion, freedom, female sexuality, fertility, mental health... and lots more.
If you're a fan of gothic fiction, dark fantasy, folklore, and feminism, you should definitely give 'The Seawomen' a read. It's Chloe Timms' debut novel and I can't wait to see what else she has in store! (Also I was super happy to see in her acknowledgements that she too was a fellow student of The Open University!)
Thank you NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton, and Chloe Timms for the ARC - it was such a pleasure to read 'The Seawomen'!

Esta lives on a island called Eden's Isle. A heavily religious and controlled place which is ruled in fear of the outside world. Father Jessop teaches everyone to not only fear the water but the Seawomen who are said to live within it, and are the cause of everything insidious that happens on the island. Society on the island is corrupt and women are manipulated throughout their entire lives. If females don't comply with God's law and/or are accused of acting Godless, the punishment can be fatal.

For a first time author novel this is a good one. I intended to gradually read through the book but ended up reading it in one sitting because it was that good. I'm very interested in reading whatever books Choe Timms produces in the future, as she is firmly on my list of favourite authors now.

I think this will stay with me for a long while. The Handmaid's Tale meets the Salem witch trials - dark, hauntingly brutal and sadly topical given the times but also beautiful and hopeful thanks to its heroine's quest for truth and freedom. Big thumbs up from me!

The Seawomen is a wonderful dystopian literary novel, reminiscent of Handmaid's Tale at times, and easily my favourite book of 2022 so far.

Esta lives on Eden's Isle, a harsh and unforgiving place to live at the best of times but even more so when it's ruled by a religious society that thinks the outside world is a menace best avoided, and all women capable of being tempted by evil and the sea.

Orphaned at only three years old, Esta's grown up with her strict grandmother who constantly warns her not to look at the sea, not to be tempted, that she must follow god's will at all times. But eventually, Esta starts to question how their world works. She's fearful of growing up - of being married off, of being given a year to conceive - of being thrown into the water if she fails. And as she grows older she begins to resist, to try to follow her own path. Unfortunately for Esta, the powers that be at Eden's Isle have their own plans, and they expect their rules to be followed, always...

This is a purposeful, literary read, but I also read it as somewhat of a page-turner. When I began it this morning (seeking a few minutes' peace from my family), I knew I'd have to finish it as soon as possible the same day. I really fell for Esta's character - her perseverance and her courage - and while I found a sense of dread and tension building as the book went on, there was also hope. And I'll cling onto that hope even if it kills me...

A thoughtful read that will stay with you.

This was a really difficult book to get into, it just didn't seem to flow at the start. But if you persevere it does get better. A very sad tale where women are seen as the root of all problems. Quite a hard book but some interesting characters.

This is one of those devastatingly haunting books that stays with the reader long after finishing. A dystopian fantasy with an engaging main character and atmospheric setting.

The Seawomen tells the story of Esta who lives on an island where the ministers rule and decide that the sea is to be feared. Seawomen hover in the water, ready to snatch apparently and full of evil, so the women and girls must prepare themselves to avoid sin, to live by impossible standards. Esta knows that her parents died in a fire, the scars of which still remain on Esta's face, but her grandmother and Barrett eventually tell her the truth and we meet Cal, who comes from the sea, but is he to be feared? Or are the rule makers the ones we should be scared of?

I really enjoyed this alternative universe with seapeople. Headlined as a different Handmaid's Tale, it felt like religion gone wrong, elements of which reminded me of The Dance Tree and other historical novels. Timms writes well and I liked the characters especially the older grandfather figure of Barrett. It was an easy read and although I felt it was a little lacking in the middle I felt Timms did well with the passing of the years and keeping the pace of the novel going.

Overall this was an enjoyable read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. It is set to be published in June 2022.

"The Seawomen" by Chloe Timms is a book that suffers from bad marketing: the amazing art cover, the title and the blurb seem to promise a wildly imaginative fantasy full of magic, wondrous adventures and, of course, mermaids; however, this is not the kind of story you get. This book is actually an extremely dark dystopian novel about the 17th century witch trials, only transposed to a different time: "The Seawomen" is set in some distant future (7 or 8 generations down the line from us), following some vague climate-change-induced catastrophe. The cultists in the book are obsessed with the sea for some reason, so their preaching, rules, and punishments revolve around all things marine. Now, I happen to love mermaids and I also happen to hate stories about the 17th century witch trials, so you can imagine how much this marketing trick of "bait and switch" - putting mermaids in the art cover, in the title, and in the blurb, but not in the actual book - well, you can imagine how much it annoyed me. I never would have picked this book up if I'd had any idea what it really was about. I mean, there's ONE single scene containing a mermaid, but it's a very brief one, and she's only there to be tortured to death (most of it happens off-page, thankfully), so it doesn't really count. I mean, it's not the kind of scene that fans of mermaids are going to get excited about. Which leaves us with a grand total of zero mermaids in the book, unless you count the fleeting glimpse of mermaids we get at the very end of the book, (in the last 3 lines of the novel, literally).
Another huge marketing faux pas is that the novel is two-thirds gone by the time it catches up with the blurb: no spoiler here (it's all there in the blurb, after all), but Esta's motheryear is only declared at the 66% mark of progress in the book. Picture this: here I am, dutifully reading a book about a topic I don't like (I only went on reading it because it was an ARC, otherwise I'd have abandoned it as soon as I realised it was about the witch trials), and I'm trudging on, hoping I'll end up enjoying it anyway... but then, the setting of the background takes up over 200 pages out of a total of 320, and all the while I'm wondering when the real action will start... You know, whatever the blurb reveals counts as the setting of the background, and everything that comes after that is the "real action", the rewarding part of a novel that is going to surprise and captivate readers. Well, for some reason the publisher chose to spoil the surprise of 66% of this novel, so that only the last 34% of it is something that the reader doesn't already know from simply reading the blurb.
As I said, bad marketing choices.
There are also a few baffling elements in the novel that have nothing to do with marketing: mostly, believability. It is stated at some point that young Esta has never seen the ocean: she's been walking all her life with her eyes downcast in order to avoid even getting a glimpse of it. This is a sheer impossibility. I have lived on a small island, and I can attest that you could not avoid catching a glimpse of the sea, even if you wanted. No matter how hard you try, the sea is just there and it's everywhere, you simply can't avoid seeing it unless you're blind! This makes me think the author has never set foot on a small island in her life and doesn't know what she's talking about.
On the same lines, I was left completely flabbergasted when Barrett, an experienced fisherman!, says: ‘I left her at dawn. Out all day and all I had to show for it was a haul so sparse it wouldn’t’ve fed a child', and later on there's a passage stating "No fisherman had a reason to be out on the water at night"... Now, for those of you who didn't grow up among fishermen, fishing mostly happens *at night*. Boats usually go out as early as 2am, they amass all the catch they can get before sunrise, and *then* they make their way back to the port, because you can't fish in the daytime, even babies know that. For an author who's written a whole novel set in a fishermen's community, Chloe Timms doesn't seem to know much about how fishing works. Either that, or the unspecified natural disaster that happened 7-8 generations before the events in the book has dramatically altered the behaviour of all species of fish, but then, such a thing would have to be explained in the book. And more importantly, why would something like that happen? How would a climate-change-induced catastrophe make the fish swim to the surface in the day instead of at nighttime? It doesn't make sense, evolutionarily.
There are a few other elements that make little to no sense, such as the community suddenly deciding to build a fence all around the island to protect themselves from the allegedly deadly creatures coming out of the sea to threaten the very existence of the land-dwellers: how come they didn't think about that earlier on? They've been living in terror for generations and they never thought about building a protective fence in the last two hundred years or so?
Also, how is it possible that Esta and Cal speak the same language? Or Barrett and Aria, for that matter? Even assuming they might have had a common language at some point in the past, their species have had no contact for the past couple of centuries (no contact involving dialogue, that is: torturing someone to death doesn't count). Has neither of the two communities evolved their respective languages at all over about 200 years?
Another believability issue in this book is one that is quite common in dystopian novels: why would the characters who have never known anything else, especially the children, be surprised by the rules and customs of their own society? Young Esta and some of her classmates seem often shocked by the harshness of women's plight on the island, like you or I would be if we were suddenly transported to a dystopian world, but those children have been born and raised right there on the island, so why would they find the rules cruel or unjust? They've never known anything else! Esta's narrating voice in the first half of the book is constantly explaining away how her society works, remarking on all those elements that a hypothetical outsider would find strange, but that's nothing more than exposition for the reader's benefit. If Esta were a real person living in a real-life dystopian society that's been established several generations ago, she would just take everything for granted and think that's normal.
Another thing that doesn't make sense is how a 9-year-old who doesn't have access to internet, TV or to any book other than a few religious texts, and who attends a basic school in such a backward social context, would be able to correctly diagnose her grandmother's paranoia and delirium (which she does in more than one occasion over the course of the novel, the first time when she's only 9). Where did she even learn the words, let alone the meaning of them?
You see, the problem is Esta never actually speaks or thinks like a child: we meet her at different ages across the novel: at 9, at 15, 16, 17... and she always sounds absolutely the same: nothing like a child or a teenager growing up in a totalitarian regime such as this would sound, more like a grown woman (yes, even when she's 9), an adult outsider who looks at this dystopian mess of a society and is horrified by it. The "horrified protagonist technique" works well in The Handmaid's Tale because the totalitarian regime in that novel has only been established for a few years at the start of the narration, so the adult protagonist still remembers what life used to be before, but in "The Seawomen" the theocracy has been in power for about a couple of centuries, so there's no plausible reason why anybody would have the degree of self-awareness that Esta inexplicably displays.
Last but not least - and this is not an issue with the book itself, merely my personal preference (and one of the reasons why I dislike novels about the witch trials) - I really didn't enjoy how this story was 100% doom and gloom through and through. I mean, absolutely everything was bad for everybody all of the time. Even The Handmaid's Tale, upon which "The Seawomen" has clearly drawn for inspiration, shows a few glimmers of hope here and there, some slightly lighter elements in the midst of all the darkness, and besides, Offred - Margaret Atwood's protagonist - is witty and indomitable and has a killer sense of humour. Nothing of that here: in "The Seawomen" there's no hope, no light gleaming in the darkness, and not the slightest hint of humour: the protagonist is consistently 100% miserable from start to finish. Only the last 3 lines out of the whole novel let some light shine through, and that's why I did enjoy the ending very much and I'm giving the book 3 stars (without that awesome ending, I would have given only 2).
Now, the novel I'd have loved to read is one where Esta's horrible life on the island is dealt with in a couple chapters, then what is currently the ending happens in chapter 3 or so, and from then on, the story unravelsl through all the wondrous adventures that are sure to follow.
This is the novel, I believe, that the art cover, the title and the blurb had led readers to expect.

4.5 rounded up to 5.

I loved this novel. It was so beautifully written and gripped me from the very start. Parts of it made me so angry (which it was definitely meant to). I loved the setting, I loved the relationship between Esta & Cal and watching Esta grow into herself and her realisation that not everything is as it seems. I also loved the relationship and the ending between Esta & Mull.

Esta lives on an island isolated from the Otherlands so that they can remain free of sin. But the seawomen surround the island tempt the women into sin so they must be controlled by Father Jessop and the Ministers, and those that aren’t will be untethered (essentially drowned).

This is a great dystopian/cult style read, full of threat and menace. Esta is a great character full of pluck, and desire, and when I was reading I kept thinking about so many other cults.

There is a real Handmaids Tale vibe, along with secrets to unravel about how Esta was orphaned.

I enjoyed it, a good solid read and a great debut from the author.

Rating: 4/5 stars

"Instead of answers, she gave me stories. That was how she boxed me up and sealed my mouth until all those questions had nicked my insides with tiny, invisible scars"

In an isolated island population, cut off from the outside world by treacherous seas, Esta is raised solely on the teachings of her community. Be pious, respect the village-elders, and stay away from the waters and the wicked Seawomen within. Do so, and God will reward you with prosperity and children within your “motheryear”. Fail to, and you risk being cast out to sea as a sacrifice to the Seawomen.
One day, an unexpected encounter by the waterside puts Esta in a dangerous position; questioning how much of her upbringing was gospel, and how much was lore.

The Seawomen drew me into its world from page one, and had me hooked from start to finish. It is in essence a familiar story that I’ve read before; one of female oppression, religious doctrine, and the destructive effects of unshakable tradition and superstition on an isolated community. Think The Crucible meets The Shape of Water, with the more modern “vibes” of Evie Wyld’s The Bass Rock and (fittingly) Kirsty Logans The Gloaming. Yet it’s the way in which it was told that elevates it. Chloe Timms beautiful writing brought to life the world of Eden before my eyes, drawing me in with its seemingly idyllic coastal beauty, before closing the net around me with its increasingly tense and claustrophobic atmosphere. Despite predicting many of the plot beats, I couldn’t pull myself away from the story. I was invested in Esta; from the dullness of her day-to-day life, to her journey to find the truth about her upbringing.
Despite its heavily dystopian (and fantastical!) elements, The Seawomen manages to be subtle, recognisable and relatable. Esta’s battle is one that has been fought (and will be fought) in many shapes and on many different scales. I was therefore extra pleased to see the author honour that subtlety and “realness” in the story’s ending, that felt fitting and satisfying in a way I wasn’t expecting it would.

Chloe Timms voice is a welcome addition to the canon of modern magical realism; one that expertly tells a memorable feminist story without falling into the trap of preaching the obvious. I genuinely hope we get to see more from her in the future.

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.