Affirm Press has acquired world rights to Lauren Keegan’s second novel, The Woman in the Seal Skin.

Lauren is an author and psychologist, with extensive experience working in perinatal and infant mental health. Her debut novel, All the Bees in the Hollows, was voted Best Debut Fiction in the 2025 Indie Book Awards and longlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize 2025.

Dealing with themes of motherhood, grief, violence and female oppression, The Woman in the Seal Skin is a wonderfully haunting and atmospheric tale of a woman living in a cloistered community on a wild Scottish island, who one day meets her wildness within.

Malie grew up hearing tales of selkies: shape-shifting women who shed their sealskins to seduce fishermen on the Orkney shores. That's the story of how her parents met and it must be true because one day her mother slipped into the sea and was never seen again.

Raised by her father, Malie has always done what she’s been told, and now she’s married and expecting her first baby. Life on land is predictable and safe, and her future is all mapped out for her. But just like the seals in the sea, there’s a wildness in Malie’s soul – one that cannot be tamed and deeply yearns for the sea.

Lauren said: ‘Selkie lore speaks to the constant tidal pull between obligation and wildness, between expectations and what one yearns for, which I think many women – especially mothers – can relate to. I wrote The Woman in the Seal Skin just as I came up for air after those early years of parenting. In the writing process, I came to accept there will always be this tension between responsibilities and longing (writing!), and if I make time for both, I will stay true to myself.’

Affirm Press Commercial Publisher Kelly Doust said: ‘The Woman in the Seal Skin is a spellbinding exploration of the wildness that lives within women. With the haunting beauty of folklore and the psychological depth of a writer who truly understands the complexities of identity and motherhood, Lauren has crafted a novel that will resonate with fans of Hannah Kent, Kate Forsyth and Holly Ringland’s The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding. After her extraordinary debut, we’re thrilled to bring this atmospheric and deeply compelling story to readers.’

The Woman in the Seal Skin will be published by Affirm Press in April 2026.