In The Sirens by Emilia Hart, we follow three timelines, 2019, 1999, and 1800. In the first, college student Lucy is plagued by strange nightmares and sleepwalking episodes—the most recent of which ends with her hands around her ex’s throat. She flees campus in panic, terrified at what’s happening to her, and heads to her older sister’s house on the coast. Strangely, her sister Jess is absent, though her phone was left behind. While waiting for her to return, Lucy finds Jess’ diary from 1999, and gets a glimpse into her life as a teen. They have a lot in common, including their rare allergy to water and the strange dreams. Meanwhile, between reading Jess’ diary, the nightmares continue, showing Lucy glimpses of a pair of sisters Mary and Eliza in 1800, on a ship of convicts bound for Australia. Lucy is determined to understand why she’s dreaming these things, and why Jess seems to have been doing the same.

Firstly, I have to give a shoutout to the audiobook narrator, Barrie Kreinik, for being able to pull off both an Australian and an Irish accent. They both sounded great—though granted, I don’t know if I’d be able to tell if they were bad, so I guess take my compliment with a grain of salt. Still, I was impressed!

As for the story, I thought the multiple timelines were intriguing. I like how we saw Mary and Eliza’s story in dramatic flashbacks/dreams, though they still felt just as emotional and palpable as Lucy’s scenes. The historical content about convict ships was rich with detail, and it’s clear that the author did a lot of research to make it accurate. It’s a dark time of history for both countries, but good to see it explored and the women convicts humanized.

I also enjoyed the magical elements of the story, incorporating Irish folklore about merrow, or mermaids. A little bit of the tension regarding this was taken away by the book title itself, though; I spent most of the story assuming that at least one of the major characters would turn out to be a mermaid, so it really took some of the suspense away, but oh well. It was still cool to see a physical manifestation of the power these women had to take charge of their own lives, even in dire circumstances.

The strongest part of this story, however, is the relationship between Lucy and Jess. It’s compelling to see Lucy’s longing to know Jess better, because even though they were brought up by the same people, their nearly twenty year age gap means that Lucy feels distant from Jess. And Jess’ diary entries are equally engrossing, casting light on a character we haven’t even seen in person yet, with a story that is hard to look away from, even when it’s troubling. Jess’ relationship with her art teacher is, of course, inappropriate and rather predatory, but Hart takes care to never frame Jess as a villain, but as a victim. It’s a sympathetic portrayal of how a young person can be taken advantage of by an authority figure, and I appreciated that none of it was graphic, and I was satisfied with how that storyline ended. (Though if this sort of thing isn’t something you want to read, I totally understand.)

In the end, The Sirens is a well-written and well-researched novel, filled with strong characters with complicated bonds. It’s an examination of how the traumatic experiences of the past can ripple down through the years and affect people in subsequent generations. But it’s also a look at motherhood and sisterhood, at how women can help one another through bad situations. It isn’t a perfect story (I kind of wanted more development regarding Mary and Eliza’s relationship with their father, as well as Jess’ with her parents), but overall, it’s a very strong story. There’s just enough magic, but also perfectly grounded in the world we know. And if you like audiobooks, this is an excellent one.

The Sirens will be published on April 1st, 2025!