About Me

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Perth, Western Australia, Australia
I am based in Perth, Western Australia. You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops as is Book two, The Cloak of Challiver. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA). Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website.

My books

The first two books of my trilogy, The Talismans, (The Dagger of Dresnia, and book two, The Cloak of Challiver) are available in e-book format from Smashwords, Amazon and other online sellers. Book three of the trilogy, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.I also have a short story, 'La Belle Dame', in print - see Mythic Resonance below - as well as well as a few poems in various places. The best way to contact me is via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/satimaflavell

Buy The Talismans

The first two books of The Talismans trilogy were published by Satalyte Publications, which, sadly, has gone out of business. However, The Dagger of Dresnia and The Cloak of Challiver are available as ebooks on the usual book-selling websites, and book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. The easiest way to contact me is via Facebook.

The Dagger of Dresnia

The Dagger of Dresnia

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans
Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.

Mythic Resonance

Mythic Resonance

Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon. Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance.

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Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong,  Australia

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've Lived - Sydney

Places I've Lived - Sydney
Sydney Conservatorium - my old school

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
From Kings Park

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
From Kings Park

Inner Peace Blog

Inner Peace Blog
Awarded by Joanna Fay. Click on the image to visit her lovely website!

Versatile Blogger Award

Versatile Blogger Award
Awarded by Kim Falconer. Click on the pic to check out her Quantum Astrology blog!

Fabulous Blog Award

Fabulous Blog Award
Awarded by Kathryn Warner. Click on the pic to check out her Edward II blog!

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Thursday 4 April 2013

Book review - Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan

The Brides of Rollrock IslandThe Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This lovely book (alternative title Sea Hearts if you live outside the USA) captures snapshots of well-drawn characters in typical Lanagan style. If you love selkies, mermaids and tales of the sea, this could well be a book for your shelves!

I did not love it quite as much as Tender Morsels (if we could give half stars on Goodreads this one would be three-and-a-half) as I felt the construction precluded any real denouement - the story follows several different protagonists through three generations, and their stories aren't really drawn together in a truly meaningful way. The plot is a slight one - sea people come, sea people stay awhile, sea people go. I am not a fan of several generations being crammed into one book, since no character is there throughout. I find that creates a feeling of something being out-of-joint. However, other readers may not mind that at all.

Nit-picks apart, Sea Hearts is an enjoyable read that arouses sympathy for the characters and the difficult situations they find themselves in due to the deliberate scheming of Misskaella, an unhappy woman with witchy powers. We can never quite like her, but we can see what misery made her into the person she became - and we can see the kind of ongoing disruption that can be caused in a small community by one bitter soul such as Misskaella.

This would make a great book-club read as it seems to arouse strong feelings in its readers. As many people are averse to it as are its devotees, so some interesting, if not heated, discussions are likely!

View all my Goodreads reviews

2 comments:

Sue Bursztynski said...

I can see what you mean about different characters, and yet it felt to me, at least, as if something was woven into the novel all the way through and you couldn't really have published the stories separately. And Miskaella is more or less there the whole way through, if only because of her influence.

See? This is a novel that has plenty of meat for discussion! ;-) I can see this being recommended for book clubs and even for study.

Satima Flavell said...

Yes, I think it's an ideal book club book - not too long, holds the interest and open to a lot of discussion! Perhaps I should add that to my review!

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