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A review by beelovesreading
The Seawomen by Chloe Timms
5.0
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for granting me an arc.
The first thing I thought when I started reading Seawomen was that this was a book on cults. In a way that's exactly what it is. The inhabitants live on an Island called Eden's Isle and they have lived there for so long that the original name of the island is now lost to history. There are no records, nothing to say who or what lived on the island before Esta's people first landed there. Led by Father Jessop the inhabitants of Eden's Isle are led to believe that they must remain pure, devoted to God and not give into the temptation of the Seawomen. Creatures who live in the sea and would seek to bring death and destruction to their island.
The island is a highly misogynistic place to live. The men lead and the women are expected to do their part and breed children once the Eldermothers declare them fit to be mothers. In truth, the women are the ones to watch for, the ones who are more likely to give into temptation. If a calamity befalls the island it is the work of the Seawomen and whichever woman on the island whom they have enchanted. Once the woman is found it often leads to a process called the Untethering. A brutal act in which the woman is tied down and cast out to sea to drown. Esta's grandmother forces her to watch each one, to show her what happens to the faithless.
Despite all this Esta is still drawn to the sea in a way she can't describe and one fateful night, chased by a group of boys, she finds herself drowning in the very sea she's drawn to. What shocks her the most is when she's saved not by a seawoman, but a seaman called Cal. A budding ill-fated romance begins to form, which turns Esta's and Cal's whole lives upside down as they struggle to find a way to be together in a world where his very existence is taboo.
The first thing I thought when I started reading Seawomen was that this was a book on cults. In a way that's exactly what it is. The inhabitants live on an Island called Eden's Isle and they have lived there for so long that the original name of the island is now lost to history. There are no records, nothing to say who or what lived on the island before Esta's people first landed there. Led by Father Jessop the inhabitants of Eden's Isle are led to believe that they must remain pure, devoted to God and not give into the temptation of the Seawomen. Creatures who live in the sea and would seek to bring death and destruction to their island.
The island is a highly misogynistic place to live. The men lead and the women are expected to do their part and breed children once the Eldermothers declare them fit to be mothers. In truth, the women are the ones to watch for, the ones who are more likely to give into temptation. If a calamity befalls the island it is the work of the Seawomen and whichever woman on the island whom they have enchanted. Once the woman is found it often leads to a process called the Untethering. A brutal act in which the woman is tied down and cast out to sea to drown. Esta's grandmother forces her to watch each one, to show her what happens to the faithless.
Despite all this Esta is still drawn to the sea in a way she can't describe and one fateful night, chased by a group of boys, she finds herself drowning in the very sea she's drawn to. What shocks her the most is when she's saved not by a seawoman, but a seaman called Cal. A budding ill-fated romance begins to form, which turns Esta's and Cal's whole lives upside down as they struggle to find a way to be together in a world where his very existence is taboo.