The Mermaid's Daughter

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A modern expansion of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, this debut novel tells a captivating story of magic and love as a descendant of the original mermaid battles a curse affecting generations of women in her family. Kathleen, plagued by a mysterious malady that causes stabbing pain in her feet, experiences a terrifying episode on her sixteenth birthday when she wakes screaming, feeling as if her tongue has been cut out. Despite numerous medical consultations, no explanation for her pain is found, and only seawater offers temporary relief. Now twenty-five and a promising opera student in Boston, Kathleen's girlfriend Harry, a mezzo in the same program, is deeply concerned about Kathleen's obsession with the sea and her family’s tragic history, marked by the suicides of her mother and grandmother. After another severe breakdown, Harry persuades Kathleen to return to her hometown in Ireland to uncover the truth about her ancestry. There, they discover that the dark mystery of Kathleen’s lineage is more complex than they could have imagined. Facing a dire choice between the sea and her lover, Kathleen confronts a fate that seems inescapable. Haunting and lyrical, the story explores how far we will go for love and whether the power of music can break a long-standing magical curse.