Selkie Moon

Kelly Jarvis writes with care, insight, and compassion as she explores selkie folklore in this novella. Her story is filled with lyrical prose and such loving descriptions of the ocean that I was convinced Kelly must be a selkie herself. The passage about swimming with the humpback whales is particularly stunning. It's magic like this that had me captivated throughout her story.
 

I love that selkie lore became a way to explore the identities that are erased, abandoned, sacrificed or forgotten with familial roles like motherhood. That something as mysterious as a selkie's oceanic life is equated with who mothers were before their children came along is standing ovation levels of excitement for this folklore enthusiast. 

Set on a timeless-feeling community in the Orkney Islands, this selkie tale sings with beauty. Jarvis writes with gorgeous, confident language that draws the reader into the depths of her tale like siren song. Her characters are flawed and complex as they fight the pull of what is traditionally a family tragedy. Their story is moving, hopeful, and above all, compelling. Selkie Moon is as breathtaking as the moon on still water and as irresistible as the tide.

An engrossing read that sucks the reader right in from the first page. This is a bittersweet family story and a splendid tale of growing up. If you love magic and myth and amazingly strong world building for a novella, this story is definitely for you! Every character is well drawn, and you’ll stay hooked right to the end!

It is {the{ folkloric approach to family that gives Selkie Moon its edge over other family dramas, a certain beauty that both separates the story from modern life but also draws parallels to the realist’s world. Through language alone, Jarvis paints a world that is easy for a reader to be swallowed into.

And the setting—with its aurora borealis, its “simmer dim,” and its islands that, “float in the frigid waters where the North Sea kisses the Atlantic”—is one that feels almost fairytale-esque, a dreamy place that makes the family conflict so much more tense. As Isla realizes that the magical world she lives in isn’t so perfectly divine, the experience turns both devastating and enlightening. 

In just over 100 short pages, Kelly Jarvis has crafted a unique addendum to selkie folklore, expanding it beyond the mere seduction that leads to selkies shedding their seal skins, their wildness, to struggle through the tame and mild life of the land. She has bent the folklore into a relatable story about family and choices.