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Shark Heart
On sale
3rd August 2023
Price: £16.99
‘Every page bursts with heart’ Anthony Doerr, author of All The Light We Cannot See
For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last.
A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He’s turning into a great white shark, and has less than a year left to live as a human. At first, Wren resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis fully transforms?
But as Lewis changes, day by day, Wren begins to make peace with the inevitable. After all, this isn’t the first time she’s lost a loved one.
An extraordinary novel of love, loss, hope and happiness, Shark Heart explores the shapes that love takes, in all its many forms, and asks us to ask ourselves: what makes us human?
‘Compelling, moving, lyrical’ – Claire North, author of Ithaca and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last.
A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He’s turning into a great white shark, and has less than a year left to live as a human. At first, Wren resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis fully transforms?
But as Lewis changes, day by day, Wren begins to make peace with the inevitable. After all, this isn’t the first time she’s lost a loved one.
An extraordinary novel of love, loss, hope and happiness, Shark Heart explores the shapes that love takes, in all its many forms, and asks us to ask ourselves: what makes us human?
‘Compelling, moving, lyrical’ – Claire North, author of Ithaca and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
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Reviews
Shark Heart is a fantastical, original, and beautifully-written novel of abandonment, love, and Ovidian transformation. It explores illness, caretaking, devotion, magical thinking, and loss--and of course great white sharks--in ways that are funny, sad, and surprising. Every page bursts with heart.
This quirky and experimental story about life and love is unlike anything you've ever read before
Despite the magical realism, at its core, Shark Heart is a book about loss and inevitable change in life. It will make you cry, but also leave you feeling hopeful as it explores the joy found after grief
A beautifully written, heart-wringing story about love and change, about moving forward-as a shark always must -and what is lost and what is gained as we do so. Habeck has an extraordinary command of her writerly instrument, crafting sentence after sentence that feel effortless and yet are eloquent and penetrating and superb. This is the highlight of my reading-year
Beautifully written in short, sharp chapters, this is a quirky, brilliant and powerful love story
Shark Heart is very much a novel rooted in everyday concerns such as love, loss and grief, with Lewis's animal transformation a metaphor for all sorts of necessary life changes
In Shark Heart, Emily Habeck doesn't shy away from the agony of goodbyes, or the torture that can accompany unexpected freedom. With an otherworldly tenderness, she reminds us that life will always demand that we give over to its momentum and adapt. The fact that these lessons are thrilling, hilarious, and effortless to read are the miracle of the book. I suspect I will ponder this book over and over; so rich with fantasy yet as frank and real as anything I've ever read
Habek's writing displays a deft blend of humour, lyricism, and unfiltered emotion, creating an unforgettable story that delves into the profound questions that life presents, especially in the midst of grief
Compelling, moving, lyrical.
Absorbing and affecting
An extraordinary tale...This year's most beguilingly strange love story'
A stunning debut which grabs you with its unique style, holds you within its vulnerability and leaves you with a bittersweet aching. This is not just a story of love, it's a story of goodbyes . . . Habeck delivers an innovative and inspirational story that emotionally captures its readers until the end
Shark Heart is one of those rare books that reaches right into you and reflects lived experience so exactly, and so poetically, that it feels like you're being seen. It wears its heart openly and unapologetically on its sleeve. Equal parts tenderly comedic and tragic, the book was a difficult one to read, but I'm so glad I did
A stunning debut which grabs you with its unique style, holds you within its vulnerability and leaves you with a bittersweet aching. This is not just a story of love, it's a story of goodbyes . . . Habeck delivers an innovative and inspirational story that emotionally captures its readers until the end
This is one of the best things I've read in years... I just want everyone in the world to read it
I loved Shark Heart with my whole heart. It's laugh-out-loud funny, yet cry-your-eyes-out profound. I don't use this word often, but it's genuinely a masterpiece.
A beautifully written, heart-wringing story about love and change, about moving forward-as a shark always must -and what is lost and what gained as we do so. Habeck has an extraordinary command of her writerly instrument, crafting sentence after sentence that feel effortless and yet are eloquent and penetrating and superb. This is the highlight of my reading-year
Habek's debut marks the arrival of a fresh and talented writer, teaching us to embrace the impossible, seize fleeting moments of joy, and find solace in the embrace of life's unpredictable journey
A stunningly-written, multi-layered, unique novel