Esther Wilding’s life has been unmoored since her adored older sister Aura walked into the sea and disappeared. Growing up in Tasmania, the two sisters were inseparable, until Aura moved to Copenhagen to study a Masters in Scandinavian myths and fairytales. Aura returned suddenly three years later, hollow and withdrawn, shutting out her family before her death.

A year after a grief-stricken Esther ran from her family and community, she returns home for Aura’s memorial. Her mother and father produce Aura’s teenage diary and beg Esther to go to Copenhagen and try to trace her life there. A reluctant Esther travels to Copenhagen and then the Faroe Islands, following the trail of cryptic verses Aura wrote and secretly tattooed on her body.

Flashbacks into Esther and Aura’s childhood are interspersed with the main narrative. While unravelling the mystery of what happened to Aura, Esther confronts her past and her present, grieving for all that has been lost but also finally glimpsing a future.

This novel is haunting and poetic. The lush landscape descriptions balance the darker elements of an emotional storyline that encompasses joy, grief, courage, and the damage wrought by misplaced shame and secret keeping. The myths, fairytales and stories told by tattoos add a symbolic layer to this magical novel.

Reviewed by Melinda Woledge

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