Chapter summaries The Sirens Emilia Hart

The Sirens Chapter 21: Lucy’s Search and a Shocking Discovery

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

It is Saturday, 16 February 2019 – Lucy’s self-imposed deadline six days before her exhibition. Jess has been missing and Lucy feels paralysed about whether to contact the police. To distract herself, she searches online for historical records of convict sisters Eliza and Mary Kissane but finds nothing, concluding they must have changed their names. A childhood memory surfaces: her father sang a sea shanty taught by his father, but when Lucy asked about her grandfather, her parents avoided answering. Lucy realises her parents have been hiding family history. She tries to call Jess’s friend Max but gets no answer. When her mother calls, Lucy lies about a suspension and mentions Jess hasn’t replied. Later, she visits Melody at the general store. Melody invites her home for tea, shares her own background (Wiradjuri mother, parents who loved Comber Bay before the disappearances), and discusses town superstitions about drowned women luring men. Melody mentions a newspaper clipping about David Watts saying he was going to meet a woman before vanishing. She retrieves a shoebox of clippings, including a 1982 tabloid front page about Baby Hope with a photo of Judith Wilson – the woman who adopted Baby Hope and lived at Cliff House. Lucy recognises the face: she knows it almost as well as her own.

Key Events

  • Lucy’s online search for Eliza and Mary Kissane yields no results.
  • Lucy recalls her father singing a sea shanty taught by his own father; her parents avoided answering when she asked about her grandfather.
  • Lucy realises her parents might be hiding family secrets; she fears Jess might be adopted.
  • Lucy attempts to phone Max Murphy but reaches no answer.
  • Lucy’s mother calls; Lucy lies about the university suspension but reports Jess hasn’t replied.
  • Lucy visits Melody at the general store and is invited home for tea.
  • Melody shares her own family background and the town’s history of disappearances.
  • Melody reveals that David Watts said he was going to meet a woman before he disappeared.
  • Melody shows Lucy a newspaper clipping about Baby Hope from 1982.
  • Lucy is stunned to recognise the face of Judith Wilson in the photograph.

Character Development

  • Lucy: Her confidence in the truth wavers as she confronts gaps in her family story; she becomes more determined to find Jess and understand the past, while her anxiety grows.
  • Melody: Opens up about her own history and the town’s dark lore, revealing her deep connection to Comber Bay and its tragedies; she clearly cared for Daniel Smith (Danny) and shows concern for Jess.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

  • Hidden family history: Lucy uncovers that her parents’ avoidance of questions about grandparents signals a buried past.
  • The sea as keeper of secrets: The tide, the shipwreck, and the drowned women symbolise the way the past refuses to stay submerged.
  • Legacy of disappearance: The motif of men vanishing after meetings with women echoes the siren myth and the town’s superstitions.
  • Genealogy as detective work: Lucy’s failed searches mirror her growing suspicion that identity can be erased or reinvented.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a turning point in Lucy’s quest. She moves from passive worry to active investigation, digging into both official records and local memory. The introduction of Judith Wilson’s photograph – a face Lucy knows intimately – links the novel’s present-day mystery directly to Lucy’s own family, suggesting that the Kissane sisters’ story may be Lucy and Jess’s own hidden past. It deepens the central enigma and raises the stakes for Lucy’s search for her sister.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Lucy conclude that Eliza and Mary Kissane must have changed their names? Lucy’s searches of historical birth, death, and marriage records in NSW, Victoria, and Tasmania return no results for either name. She reasons that if the sisters survived the shipwreck, they would have needed to conceal their convict origins to pass as free settlers.

2. What does Melody tell Lucy about David Watts’s last known statement? Melody says that David Watts told Mack Burton he was going to meet a woman before he disappeared. This detail aligns with the town’s folklore about men being lured to their deaths by drowned women from the shipwreck.

3. Why is Lucy shocked when she sees the photograph of Judith Wilson? Lucy recognises the face in the 1982 tabloid photograph of Judith Wilson, the woman who adopted Baby Hope. The narrative states she knows that face “almost as well as she knows her own,” strongly implying Judith Wilson is someone very close to Lucy – likely her own mother or a close relative.

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