By Water And Blood

by Melanie Rose

Overview

Five years ago, Sophie Durrant surprised herself and her friends by dropping out of college and taking a job as a bartender on a tiny island at the end of the world, knowing only that for once in her life she felt that she was home.Now, a cryptic note in her dead mother's handwriting leads Sophie to delve into the mystery of her past, a mystery which points to the old legend of the Selkies: the seals who could set aside their skins and walk on land as men and women.Her heritage calls to her, by water and blood....but there are other secrets, darker than any legend, and their keepers are not forgiving.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781482695908
Publisher:	CreateSpace Publishing
Publication date:	05/01/2014
Pages:	306
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.64(d)
Age Range:	1 - 17 Years

About the Author

One day in her childhood, Melanie Rose told herself a story about the apple she was eating. It was a planet, inhabited by one tiny man-like creature who kept having to move house as his various residences were devoured by a giant alien. It was a tragedy, of course, ending in the planet's destruction, but the author has been telling herself stories ever since.

Melanie Rose is the award-winning author of Ashford (BRAG Medallion, 2012) and Violet Shadows (Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2013, Novella Category Winner) and An Amazing Alphabetic Anthology. She lives in Chewelah, Washington.

Editorial Reviews

09/29/2014
Rose (Violet Shadows) weaves a modern fantasy tale that manages to be equal parts fascinating and dull. Young Sophie Durrant abandons her present-day American life to tend bar on Unst, one of the Shetland Islands north of Britain. She’s drawn to its gruff Scottish natives, its ponies, and most of all the sea—and the seals that live in it. Sophie eventually discovers that she is the granddaughter of a Selkie, a shape-shifter who can remove her sealskin to become human. She also learns about hunters who steal Selkie skins and force them into the world of human trafficking. Rose’s core conceit is strong and sophisticated; her descriptions of the pain of slavery resonate with the weight of history, and the descriptions of Unst are incredible. Far less compelling are the subplots, such as Sophie’s friend’s quest to get her to move back home, and her inevitable romance with a Selkie man who is (naturally) tall, dark-haired, and dashing. Rose’s updated Selkie myth is far too interesting to be paired with such conventional tropes, and the result is a very uneven novel. (BookLife)

Publishers Weekly