The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding - by Holly Ringland (Paperback)

About the Book

"A haunting, magical novel about joy, grief, courage, and transformation from the international bestselling author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. "On the afternoon that Esther Wilding drove homeward along the coast, a year after her sister had walked into the sea and disappeared, the light was painfully golden." The last time Esther Wilding's beloved older sister Aura was seen, she was walking along the shore towards the sea. In the wake of Aura's disappearance, Esther's family struggles to live with their loss. To seek the truth about her sister's death, Esther reluctantly travels from Lutruwita (Tasmania) to Copenhagen, and then to the Faroe Islands, following the trail of the stories Aura left behind: seven fairy tales about selkies, swans, and women, alongside cryptic verses Aura wrote and had secretly tattooed on her body. The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is a sweeping, deeply beautiful, and profoundly moving novel about the far reaches of sisterly love, the power of wearing your heart on your skin, and the ways life can transform when we find the courage to feel the fullness of both grief and joy"--

Book Synopsis

A haunting, magical novel about joy, grief, courage and transformation from the international bestselling author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.

'On the afternoon that Esther Wilding drove homeward along the coast, a year after her sister had walked into the sea and disappeared, the light was painfully golden.'

The last time Esther Wilding's beloved older sister Aura was seen, she was walking along the shore towards the sea. In the wake of Aura's disappearance, Esther's family struggles to live with their loss. To seek the truth about her sister's death, Esther reluctantly travels from Lutruwita/Tasmania, to Copenhagen, and then to the Faroe Islands, following the trail of the stories Aura left behind: seven fairy tales about selkies, swans and women, alongside cryptic verses Aura wrote and had secretly tattooed on her body. The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is a sweeping, deeply beautiful and profoundly moving novel about the far reaches of sisterly love, the power of wearing your heart on your skin and the ways life can transform when we find the courage to feel the fullness of both grief and joy.

Review Quotes

A tribute to messy, uncontrollable grief, of making terrible decisions and hurting those around you in your pain, and getting to apologize and think about what healing might look like. Ringland paints Esther's pain onto the page without judgment.

-- "The Miramichi Reader"

The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is an enjoyable read infused with folklore, mythology, and mystery ... It is a story that is raw and honest, that explores the slippery parts of grief and how love and joy eventually help us resurface from it. Through Esther, Ringland shows us that no one survives grief alone.

-- "West Trade Review"

Through its powerful narrative surrounding grief, The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding reminds us to hold fast to our loved ones and to cherish every moment that we get to experience with them.

-- "White Wall Review"

Vivid and soaring ... The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding is a haunting story of trauma and redemption that is nonetheless compelling and accessible. It's a great recommendation for fans of Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers or Elizabeth Gilbert's The Signature of All Things, as well as Ringland's debut The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.

-- "Books+Publishing"