The Mermaid

By Christina Henry

Once there was a fisherman who lived on a cold and rocky coast and was never able to convince any woman to come away and live in that forbidding place with him. One evening he pulled up his net and found a woman in it. A woman with black hair and eyes as grey as a stormy sea and a gleaming fish’s tail instead of legs.
The storm in her eyes rolled into his heart. She stopped her thrashing and crashing at his voice, though she did not understand his words. But her eyes had seen inside of him, and his loneliness caught her more surely than the net. So she stayed with him, and loved him, though he grew old, and she did not.
Remarks of this strange and unusual woman travelled from village to village and town to town, until they reached the ears of a man whose business was in the selling of the strange and unusual.
His name was P.T. Barnum, and he’d been looking for a mermaid.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Titan Books
• Release date: Jun 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781785655715

Christina Henry

Christina Henry is a horror and dark fantasy author whose works include Horseman, Near the Bone, The Ghost Tree, Looking Glass, The Girl in Red, The Mermaid, Lost Boy, Alice, and Red Queen. She enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on and watching movies with samurai, zombies and/​or subtitles in her spare time. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son and tweets @C_Henry_Author.

Reviews for The Mermaid

[krau0098 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have read and loved many of Henry’s books. I loved her Madeline Black UF series and have really been enjoying all the fairy tale retellings she’s been doing as well (Alice, Red Queen, and Hook). This book was very well done and is a retelling of The Little Mermaid with some alternate history blended in.In this book Amelia seeks to learn more about humans and the land. Originally she falls in love with a sailor and spends a long life with him but after he passes away she remains alone for many years. That is until she is invited to join P.T. Barnum’s Museum and be one of his exhibits. As you can imagine what at first looks like an amazing adventure ends up being much more perilous for Amelia.This book wasn’t as dark as Henry’s previous fairy tale retellings and as a result I didn’t like it quite as much. I found the story a bit predictable and could have probably told you how events would play out right from the moment Amelia stepped foot in Barnum’s Museum.This is definitely not in the same tone as the recently released “The Greatest Showman” movie. In this book Barnum is a money grubbing jerk and he thinks of nothing but how to make another dime. His wife and daughter are by far the more interesting characters. Aside from Amelia, Levi is the other main character...he works for Barnum and is also an interesting character to read about.The book is beautifully written and was very engaging. I had a hard time putting it down and whipped right through it. The story is tied up nicely if a bit bittersweet.Overall I enjoyed this book a lot. I would recommend to those who like dark fairytale reimaginings set in historical settings. While this isn’t as dark as Henry’s previous books, it is not the happy go lucky feel story that The Greatest Showman is. I can’t wait to see what project Henry tackles next!

[justagirlwithabook · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. I received it as an Advanced Reader Copy through a Goodreads Giveaway in April. It’s described as a historical fairy tale, and I think it delivered! The storyline follows a mermaid who falls in love with a fisherman, but when the fisherman dies and she becomes a widow, the mermaid decides to go on a human adventure. She lands herself in the midst of P. T. Barnum and all his schemes, becoming his next exhibit: the Feejee Mermaid.Though the storyline takes place in the late 1800s, so many of the difficulties the mermaid (Amelia) faces are not so much different from the inequality and close-minded perspectives that women or anyone deemed “different from the norm” regularly face day-to-day. Throughout the story, Amelia fights to stay true to herself, and I think that’s something all readers can relate to.

[awahle-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway in return for an honest review.I have never read any of Christina Henry's books, but I am looking forward to discovering her backlist now. This is a beautiful story that you could say is a very loose retelling of The Little Mermaid. A very adventurous and curious mermaid is caught in a fisherman's net. He lets her go, but she recognizes the sadness and loneliness in his eyes and swims to find him. She undergoes a painful transformation to human form and makes her way to his home. They share a love of the sea and spend the rest of his life together. She still looks young and there is much gossip about her in the neighboring villages. The village closest to her accepts, but never embraces her.P.T. Barnum hears the rumors stemming from a drunk fisherman's story of a mermaid in Maine so he sends his friend and (lesser) partner to find her for his museum. Amelia, the mermaid, has her own reasons for leaving Maine and going to New York. She provides more of a challenge than Barnum expects from a woman (it is the 1840's) and he tries to get the upper hand any way he can. I loved the parallels between Amelia and Charity (Barnum's) wife. Barnum doesn't want the mermaid to speak because she does not and will not lie. Charity has no voice because she is a woman of polite society in the 1840's. The relationships were well developed and I love how they evolved. So happy to have received this and may buy a U.K. version when it is released because I love that cover too!

[carolesrandomlife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book and thought it was well done. I do have to say that this book was a little different than I expected. That isn't a bad thing since I like being surprised by the books that I am reading. I loved Christina Henry's previous book, Lost Boy, so I was really excited to see what she would do with this mermaid tale. I found the book to be incredibly well written and quite entertaining.One of the reasons that this book may have surprised me a bit is due to the fact that my mermaid knowledge is quite limited. I have watched the Disney movie more times than I can count but that is really my total mermaid experience. I did see a few similarities between this book and the Disney film but only at the very start of the story.I liked Amelia and thought her view of the world was quite refreshing. While women around her concerned themselves with the opinions of others and propriety, Amelia cared little about how others saw her. She did not want to see anyone come to harm and really had a very kind heart. I loved her relationship with P.T. Barnum's young daughter, Caroline, and wife, Charity. Levi and Barnum were both great characters as well. Barnum always had dollar signs in his eyes and didn't always do the right thing but I was impressed that he would back down in certain situations. Levi wanted to protect Amelia and it was quite obvious how much he cared for her.As I mentioned this book wasn't quite what I thought it would be. Based on my experience reading Lost Boy, I expected a much darker story. As I read, I kept thinking about all the evil things that could potentially happen but I just couldn't guess the turns this book would make since it went in a completely different direction than I thought it would. In some ways the story made me sad. It is terrible the way that human beings will treat each other not to mention animals in our care. I also think it would have been very hard to be a woman during this period of time.I would recommend this book to others. It was a nice combination of fantasy and historical fiction seen through the eyes of a mermaid that is often more human than those around her. I look forward to reading more from Christina Henry very soon.I received a digital review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley.

[kamoorephoto · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

'The Mermaid' has immediately gone onto my favorites list, so I can tell you right away that this book is an absolute treat. When I grabbed my early copy of it at Emerald City Con at the weekend, I hadn't heard it was coming out, so I certainly didn't harbor any expectations for it, and to be honest, I'm not even a big fan of fairytale retellings. Plus I had to dispel any recent images of killer mermaids I still had in my head after reading 'Into the Drowning Deep' by Mira Grant, and I thought this would be the perfect way to do that. 'The Mermaid' is a historical fairy tale about a mermaid who wasn't content enough with life in the ocean so she decided that life on land, with a man called Jack, who she feels is the love of her life, was where she needed to be. Amelia was able to come and go from the sea as she pleased, and it seemed as though her life was everything she needed it to be...until Jack grew old (and she didn't). She was then discovered by the great P.T. Barnum. The same P.T. Barnum of Barnum & Bailey Circus Company, who is famous for coining the phrase "There's a sucker born every minute."That's where Amelia's life completely changed, and the story of the mermaid becomes loosely based off the 'Feejee Mermaid' hoax that Barnum orchestrated. Author Christina Henry obviously did a lot of research to include details about Joice Heth and Tom Thumb (reading the novel will make this all clear!); I found all of this, and all Barnum's various 'humbugs' to be absolutely fascinating (and shocking). Through the eyes of Amelia, who is essentially a stranger, 'an alien' to this foreign modern world that is New York circa 1840, she questions all sorts of things: why wear all the silly trappings of clothes, why are women not afforded the same rights as men, why are animals treated so poorly, why are people who are not white or Christian 'savages', and so on. And she dares to question her new 'employer' Barnum*, who basically is raking in the dough with her mermaid exhibit.*I have no idea what to make of P.T.Barnum as a person or character, but Henry does say this rendition is the one that suits her story.There is so much to love about this book: the wonderful characters who fit within the actual mold that was cast, but who now have been brought to life, the writing of Henry's that seems to flow so beautifully and seems so befitting of the time, and all the questions and ideas that spring off the pages through the character of the mermaid Amelia. And then there's the idea of the mermaid herself, something we think we have an idea about, and here it is done again; I felt like what I was reading was subtle and ethereal, and in the way that that Amelia was trying to show her reality within the book to others, I was being made to believe it too. There are also themes of sadness, loss, and longing, new love, and acceptance, in the book, and I felt those emotions from the characters clearly. It was wonderful to read all of that and move along with the feelings like waves.Absolutely wonderful book. I already want to own whatever special edition is made. And the Funko Pop.

[davidgotts · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A new take on the mermaid myth. A very enjoyable read.

[Samara Allen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars, not too bad, but fell short for me.

[vickimarie2002 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was so excited to read this since I loved Christina Henry's Alice and I was not disappointed! I loved this story of Barnum's Feejee Mermaid and love how she became human and her interaction with other humans. Christina Henry is a great writer!

I reviewed this as part of The First to Read program.

[ouroborosangel · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I loved loved Christina Henry's Alice and her Lost Boy book made me a forever fan of Captain Hook. I recommend these two books to customers all the time. I was so excited to see a new book by Henry - but for me, The Mermaid just doesn't do it. I've really struggled to figure out why I didn't care for this one. I love mermaids and the idea of a sideshow performer who has the upper hand. I think that I have figured out that Henry's other books all happen in a made up world, and this one happens in the real world - albeit a world where magic happens. I don't know. If you like this one, go read Lost Boy and Alice; you will LOVE those.

[cherylk_44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Having watched The Greatest Showman, you can say that my excitement for the circus and P.T. Barnum type stories are drawing me in. Yet, to be honest, it was not all about P.T. Barnum that drew me to this book but the mermaid aspect as well. It has been a long while since I have read a mermaid story. Instantly, I was transported back in time and within the pages of this story. Reading how Amelia came to make her way upon land was a very touching story. I mourned with her when her first human husband disappeared and she held hope for him every night by the sea.Mr. Barnum is the bad guy in this story. Yet, at the same time it was not hard to understand his drive to be a showman. Plus, I think we are all intrigued by things that we can't explain including the mystical. I myself still am a fan of unicorns. The love story between Amelia and Levi was nice. If you are looking for a gorgeous story filled with love, new chances, character development all wrapped up in a historical fiction, than, look no further then, The Mermaid by Christina Henry. I absolutely loved this book and look forward to reading more like this from Ms. Henry.