The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding (Holly Ringland, Fourth Estate)

Esther Wilding grows up in the shadow of her older sister Aura. When the once-sparkling Aura returns from Copenhagen hollowed out by life, and walks into the sea to her death, her family is torn to pieces. Esther, the little sister used to trailing around after Aura, runs from her grief and her community. But when Esther discovers a journal filled with cryptic lines of text and fairytale artwork, she reluctantly travels to Copenhagen to try to piece together her sister’s life. Nordic fairytales, myths and artwork suffuse Holly Ringland’s second novel, creating webs of symbolism and meaning. Ringland’s depictions of Denmark are vivid and soaring, the setting a fitting home for her emotional and dark plotlines, while her Tasmanian landscapes are equally evocative. The story is full of fraught family dynamics and the love and rivalry of sibling relationships. Flashbacks are scattered throughout, giving glimpses of Esther and Aura’s childhood as Esther pulls the past into focus, finally seeing what was there all along. The mysterious journal provides a narrative framework as the reader is drawn along on Esther’s journey through her own stages of grief into reckoning, and to finally learning the truth about her sister. 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.

Fay Helfenbaum is a freelance writer and editor and was a bookseller for five years.

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