Shark Heart, Emily Habeck
Shark Heart, Emily Habeck
18 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Shark Heart
A Love Story

Author: Emily Habeck

Narrator: Karissa Vacker, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Soneela Nankani

Unabridged: 7 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/08/2023


Synopsis

A New York Times Editors’ Choice
A USA TODAY Bestseller
A Booklist Editor’s Choice
A Goodreads Choice Award Nominee
A Massachusetts Book Awards Fiction Honors Selection
Shortlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize

A “beautifully written” (Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See) debut novel of marriage, motherhood, metamorphosis, and letting go, this intergenerational love story begins with newlyweds Wren and her husband, Lewis—a man who, over the course of nine months, transforms into a great white shark.

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 will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams.

At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with her college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds. Woven throughout this “heart-wringing” (Adam Roberts, internationally bestselling author of Salt) novel is the story of Wren’s mother, Angela, who becomes pregnant with Wren at fifteen in an abusive relationship amidst her parents’ crumbling marriage. In the present, all of Wren’s grief eventually collides, and she is forced to make an impossible choice.

A sweeping love story that is at once lyrical and funny, airy and visceral, Shark Heart is an unforgettable, gorgeous novel about life’s perennial questions, the fragility of memories, finding joy amidst grief, and creating a meaningful life. This daring debut marks the arrival of a wildly talented new writer abounding with originality, humor, and heart.

About Emily Habeck

Emily Habeck is an alumna of SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts, where she received a BFA in theatre, as well as Vanderbilt Divinity School and Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. She is from Ardmore, Oklahoma. Shark Heart is her first novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by jaime ⭐️ on October 17, 2023

i’m a broken woman......more

Goodreads review by Brady on December 27, 2024

Was not expecting to 1. finish this book in a span of 3 hours or 2. love a book about a man slowly morphing into a great white shark as much as I did. I don’t think this book will be for everyone, but the writing was absolutely stunning I couldn’t put it down. Also a really quick read because half o......more

Goodreads review by Ceecee on May 17, 2023

4.5 rounded up This is a love story but unlike one I have ever read before. Lewis and Wren meet and fall in love. They are utterly different, so opposite but somehow they balance each other out. He is arty, a school theatre teacher and outgoing, she is quiet, likes structure but their relationship w......more

Goodreads review by jay on August 27, 2023

the author looked at "would you still love me if i was a worm" and went "what if instead of silly, this was actually a sad question" read as part of 202-Queer 🌈✨ (bi MC)......more

Goodreads review by Kelly on December 20, 2024

I’m just a girl, raving about a shark book, asking you to trust me. If you told me I would become wholeheartedly invested in the story of a man who turns into a shark I wouldn’t believe you. SHARK HEART was the bizarrely beautiful book I never knew I needed. Told in alternating timelines, the story......more


Quotes

"Vacker immerses audiences in Wren's emotional depth, capturing her vulnerabilities with finesse, while Taylor–Corbett expertly balances strength and vulnerability as he embodies Lewis's journey. Nankani adds depth by infusing supporting characters with life. Together, the trio’s voices seamlessly weave Habeck's unconventional narrative, exploring themes of love, loss, and transformation. This captivating and unforgettable auditory adventure delves into complexities of the human heart."