This is an old story and a brand new story: it uniquely combines ancient fable with life in the 1970s on a Caribbean island. Through the mermaid's story we discover ourselves: our cruelties; our kindnesses; our hatred of and fascination for change; our racism; our capacity for love and for hatred; our tolerance and our intolerance ... I began this novel wondering if Monique Roffey could make the story of a mermaid work in my 21st-century mind and heart, hoping she could. I finished it entirely convinced that she had. Her writing and her story are both lucid and mysterious, as clear and as fantastic as the mermaid herself.