The Mermaid's Daughter by Ann Claycomb is a modern retelling of the Little Mermaid story, focusing on Kathleen, a young opera student plagued by chronic pain and a mysterious connection to water. As Kathleen delves into her family history, she uncovers generations of mermaids, each facing their own struggles and tragedies. The narrative unfolds through multiple perspectives, weaving together elements of mythology, opera, and the complexities of family legacy. Claycomb's writing style blends passion and descriptive storytelling to create a dark and captivating tale that explores themes of love, loss, and the price of destiny.

Characters:

The characters are deeply developed, exploring themes of support, generational trauma, and personal pain through their relationships.

Writing/Prose:

The prose is engaging and descriptive, incorporating various perspectives and a lyrical style that reflects its operatic influences.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot encompasses themes of tragedy, generational struggles, and ties to fairy tales, with a focus on a young singer's challenges.

Setting:

The setting blends modern elements with cultural and familial ties, particularly to Ireland and the opera scene.

Pacing:

The pacing is mixed, with some uneven transitions and a balance of tension and slower sections.

I have only just finished singing and I feel like I have surfaced from deep water, gasping like a fish desperate to be submerged again, to still be breathing the song. For a moment, hearing her words,...

Notes:

The book is a modern retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid.

It features a central f/f romantic couple, Kathleen and Harry, who are both opera singers.

Kathleen suffers from chronic pain and a mysterious connection to water.

The story has a tragic tone, with themes of mental illness and the generational struggles of women.

Kathleen's family history includes a legacy of suicidal women linked to their mermaid heritage.

The narrative shifts between multiple points of view, including individual character perspectives and a Greek chorus of sea witches.

The writing incorporates elements of opera, and chapter titles reflect opera themes.

The story explores the intersection of art, personal struggle, and identity.

Kathleen's journey takes her to Ireland to uncover her family's past.

The book's ending defies typical fairy tale conventions, not offering a happy resolution.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Triggers for readers may include depictions of mental illness, suicide, familial trauma, and physical pain.

Has Romance?

The romance between the main characters, Kathleen and Harry, plays a significant role, although it is complicated by underlying tragic elements.

implied steam level

From The Publisher:

A modern-day expansion of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, this unforgettable debut novel weaves a spellbinding tale of magic and the power of love as a descendent of the original mermaid fights the terrible price of saving herself from a curse that has affected generations of women in her family.

Kathleen has always been dramatic. She suffers from the bizarre malady of experiencing stabbing pain in her feet. On her sixteenth birthday, she woke screaming from the sensation that her tongue had been cut out. No doctor can find a medical explanation for her pain, and even the most powerful drugs have proven useless. Only the touch of seawater can ease her pain, and just temporarily at that.

Now Kathleen is a twenty-five-year-old opera student in Boston and shows immense promise as a soprano. Her girlfriend Harry, a mezzo in the same program, worries endlessly about Kathleen's phantom pain and obsession with the sea. Kathleen's mother and grandmother both committed suicide as young women, and Harry worries they suffered from the same symptoms. When Kathleen suffers yet another dangerous breakdown, Harry convinces Kathleen to visit her hometown in Ireland to learn more about her family history.

In Ireland, they discover that the mystery-and the tragedy-of Kathleen's family history is far older and stranger than they could have imagined. Kathleen's fate seems sealed, and the only way out is a terrible choice between a mermaid's two sirens-the sea, and her lover. But both choices mean death…

Haunting and lyrical, The Mermaid's Daughter asks-how far we will go for those we love? And can the transformative power of music overcome a magic that has prevailed for generations?

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The Mermaid's Daughter

Ann Claycomb