The Wicked Deep
Author: Shea Ernshaw
Publication Date: March 6th, 2018
Publisher: Simon Pulse
The three beautiful Swan sisters, Marguerite, Aurora and Hazel, arrive in Sparrow, Oregon in 1822. No man, single or married, can resist them. The townspeople thinking the women to be witches, tie stones to their ankles and drown them in the ocean.
In present day Sparrow, tourists overrun the town as the inhabitants prepare for the yearly festivities honouring the Swan sisters. However, the tradition of parties and festivals is not all the residents come to expect each summer. Since the sisters were drowned, death comes to the town, claiming new victims the same time each year. The approaching Swan season is a time when the legendary sisters are resurrected, seeking revenge as they each inhabit the body of a local girl. But there is one person who may be able to break the curse...
Penny Talbot resides with her mother on Lumiere Island, along with two orange tabby cats, Otis and Olga. She uses a small boat to motor across the bay between her home and Sparrow, where she goes to high school. She must traverse a labyrinth of shipwrecks which hark back to the days when supplies were brought in through the port. Now the waters are no longer used for this purpose and there are rumours they are haunted.
Three years ago, Penny's father, John, disappeared from the island and has not been seen or heard from since. She knows something terrible must have happened for him to leave his family behind. Her best friend Rose tries to convince Penny to leave Sparrow with her once they graduate, but she is loyal and feels an obligation to her mother, who lives in a haze on the outskirts of reality since John vanished. Sparrow is dreary and rainy, but it is familiar and comfortable, that is until Bo the intriguing stranger arrives. From a young age, Penny was taught by her mother to read fortunes from tea leaves. In the leaves she has seen a mysterious boy who will arrive and capture her heart. Whenever she thinks about leaving Sparrow, the island draws her back.
Lumiere Island is exquisitely depicted, with its lighthouse, heavy morning fog and surrounded by the vastness of the Pacific. I could easily picture the tragic vision of Penny's mother standing on the cliffs and looking out to sea, waiting for her lost love to come home to her. The novel has an enchanting fairy tale quality that I found captivating. The story of the witches coming back to exact their revenge is a dark one, but it is unique and beautifully written. The Wicked Deep is gorgeously atmospheric and a book I highly recommend.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for the DRC to review.
From the publisher:
A New York Times bestseller
Hocus Pocus and Practical Magic meets the Salem Witch trials in this haunting story about three sisters on a quest for revenge—and how love may be the only thing powerful enough to stop them.
Welcome to the cursed town of Sparrow…
Where, two centuries ago, three sisters were sentenced to death for witchery. Stones were tied to their ankles and they were drowned in the deep waters surrounding the town.
Now, for a brief time each summer, the sisters return, stealing the bodies of three weak-hearted girls so that they may seek their revenge, luring boys into the harbor and pulling them under.
Like many locals, seventeen-year-old Penny Talbot has accepted the fate of the town. But this year, on the eve of the sisters’ return, a boy named Bo Carter arrives; unaware of the danger he has just stumbled into.
Mistrust and lies spread quickly through the salty, rain-soaked streets. The townspeople turn against one another. Penny and Bo suspect each other of hiding secrets. And death comes swiftly to those who cannot resist the call of the sisters.
But only Penny sees what others cannot. And she will be forced to choose: save Bo, or save herself.
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