After several failed rounds of IVF, Scottie ups sticks to a remote Scottish island where she discovers her past.

A triple narrative weaves together present-day Scottie, her young self as adopted Charlotte, and the folkloric Thordis.

This is an important novel about infertility, by an author childless not by choice. Told for two out of the three narratives in the first person, it only partly succeeds in developing the main character. Perhaps a case of being too close to the subject? Secondary characters get little more than a sketch. This said, husband, Jasminder, is a saint.

Most books with an infertile woman character paint an unhinged child-snatching, witch. Kirby addresses this issue head-on in the third narrative of Thordis. Initially surfacing only in Scottie’s dreams, the narrative takes on more substance the closer Scottie comes to discovering her origins.

In avoiding the cliché of drawing the unwillingly childless woman as the lunatic villain of the piece., Kirby's approach is refreshing. It is to be hoped The Hollow Sea will lay the witch to rest.

I have mixed feelings. I felt that this book was unsure what it wanted to be. Real or fantasy? I think i had too high hopes for this and personally felt it not suitable for myself but it was interesting enough that i reckon another reader may benefit from its story.

Thank you, Penguin Michael Joseph, for a copy of The Hollow Sea by Annie Kirby.
I have mixed feelings about this book. At the start of this book, I couldn’t decipher the identity of this book. Is it a book about a woman that can’t conceive or is it a book of fairy tales? Is it about a woman who was abandoned as a child and now grown up trying to find out who they are and what path are they heading? Because of all these questions I struggled to connect with this book and the characters that I started flipping pages and paragraphs. Don’t get me wrong, is great first novel from the author but maybe I was suspecting something a bit different. And don’t take my word for this book read it yourself as you may love this book. This is what I feel personally about it. But I would say I would be interested next what the author has in store. 3 stars from me.

I think this book had an interesting concept and beautifully lyrical writing but unfortunately I struggled to connect to the characters and there story.

A really beautiful meditative book that takes big life changes and emotions, rendering them with a skilled touch. I enjoyed the scene setting a lot, and the thoughts in infertility were sensitively done.

What a fascinating debut this is. Switching between different points of view, it tells one essential story and the fallout from those events. Scottie is adopted, and desperately trying for a baby, facing another round of IVF and another potential heartbreaking result. Running away, she volunteers for a trip counting seals in a set of remote islands in the North Atlantic, knowing somehow she is returning home. The other tales give us her origin story, and what happened to her parents, amidst the myth and folklore of the islands. While the unfolding storyline is easy enough to piece together as you read, I was so pleased that this didn’t take the predictable easy plot turns she could have chosen but went for something more realistic and ultimately more satisfying instead.
I thought there was just enough folklore to make the book interesting and palatable, without tipping into excessive whimsy. I also think that the theme of motherhood, of the idea of it being enough to cause such havoc in people’s lives, and the juxtaposition of the women who had children against those who didn’t, was so well done and provides a lot to think about.

I truly enjoyed this book and the wonderful literary deep dive into love, loss and Scottish folklore. This novel is packed full of mystery, heart ache and magical mythology. A turn from my normal style of book, but proof that when you go slightly out of your comfort zone, sometimes your can find a true hidden gem
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Thank you to penguin for the ARC

I really enjoyed this book and have never read anything from Anne Kirby before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. It is really beautifully written. It is lyrical, mystical and magical; my sort of book! I related to Scottie a lot and found her to be a really interesting character. I gave this 4 over 5 stars simply because at times it was so poetic, I simply didn't understand what was going on. A more literate mind would probably be able to handle it better than me!

As soon as I picked up this book I could not put it down. I was drawn into Scottie's life and hardships, I wanted to find the connections between her and her past. The Hollow Sea seems to be the perfect metaphor for Scottie's turbulent life.

The pace of the book was well thought and I enjoyed the interlinking chapters between, the girl, Charlotte, Scottie and Thordis. The bite sized chapters kept you wanting to read on and swept you up in the lives of the characters. Although, at times I did get a little confused with the chronology as the narrative jumped around the timeline seemingly without warning. It was only later in the book I came to understand how the chronology worked.

The mythical element threw me a little, I was left wondering if it had been real, the imaginings of a child or a hallucination. It left a lot of unanswered questions, but at the end of the book I feel like that was maybe the point.
That said, I really enjoyed reading the myths of the Hollow Sea and how they were retold in different ways in the narrative.

I really enjoyed this book about love, loss and Scottish folklore. Beautifully written, it shows that a journey of self discovery is as much about what you decide to leave behind than bring with you.

The Hollow Sea by Annie Kirby (debut)
Publish date: 18 August 2022
BOOK - 400 pages
Publisher - Michael Joseph

I was looking forward to reading this debut novel. The book is well written but confusing. I could not connect to the characters and it felt a ''little far fetched'' in parts. I have read folklore books in the past and this novel was outside my comfort zone, genre and I struggled to enjoy the story.

I give a 2 star rating only because the book was not for me.

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST OPINION. MY VIEWS ARE MY OWN.

I loved the way that this beautiful novel manages to combine naturalistic fiction with the magical and fantasy elements in a way that they intertwine seamlessly and the magical becomes believable and real .You are never fully clear whether the mermaid and merman elements of the story are imaginary or real ,the author allows you to make your own decision .
The setting on a remote British island is evocative and strongly anchors the book with the sense of place vital to the book’s heart .i would have loved to have read this book staring out to sea but instead I was probably as far from the ocean that you can get .The book transported me so well that I felt I could hear the gulls and smell the brine
The people in the story are described in such detail that you feel you know them and I was invested early on in discovering their story.
I loved the way the book was structured with the book flipping between past and present ,it was always clear to me which time the chapter was set in
The author has a clear voice and reading their prose was enjoyable
I would recommend the book to those who like a literary novel with a sprinkling of magical mythology

The Hollow Sea by Annie Kirby is an absolutely beautiful story of love, loss, family and motherhood. Told in interweaving strands, it follows the story of Charlotte (Scottie) whose mysterious past haunts her, and whose own struggles to become a mother is slowly destroying her. She makes the brave decision to cease IVF treatment, and instead seek out the truth of her origins, in an attempt to lay to rest the ghosts of her past. In so doing, she travels to remote islands, where folklore and stories obscure the truth of what really happened to her mother. I read this book in just two sittings, the lyrical prose pulled me in and held me captivated, and my heart wept and sang in equal measure. Truly stunning.

Mysterious and strange at times, I was often not quite sure what was going on, how the threads of the story joined.
Beautifully written , and very atmospheric.
Just the right amount of folklore, to make it feel magical.
I alternated between slowing right down to make the story last longer, and speeding through chapters, to discover the answe to so many questions.

Super.

This is a difficult book to review for me - it is beautifully written and quite lyrical in parts but there are bits that don’t sit right. The plot relies heavily on the folklore of the islands and Scottie’s missing memories of her childhood, which lead me to question some of the ‘reveals’. However, this doesn’t detract from the story and I was eager to keep reading to find out what would happen in the end. A good debut novel.

This was such a beautifully written, completely emotive book. Full of intrigue, mystery, heartache - and wow, my heart DID ache at times, like it was being wrenched out of my chest as the tale gradually unfolded via the differing women. I loved the subtlety of the mythology, though personal preference would have been for that to have been explored further.

The ending was perfect - without posting a spoiler, it didn't go down the predictable way which I was really glad of.

I really enjoyed this book and I found it way more emotive than I thought it would be. It was really well written with a compelling storyline and well devekloped characters that I took to my heart. This was a heart wrenching book and I will definitely be looking for more from this author.