The Mermaid of Brooklyn
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
Amy Shearn has written a fierce and vivacious book about motherhood, astounding in its honesty, fearless in its humor and exploding with love. THE MERMAID OF BROOKLYN is a joyful and exhilarating read' Maria Semple, author of the New York Times bestselling WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE?
Jenny Lipkin, former up-and-coming magazine editor and current stressed-out mother of two, is struggling. With two demanding children, she is adjusting to life as an average mother, drinking coffee in the playground and complaining about breastfeeding, sleepless nights and how to get the buggy on the subway.
And then, one summer evening, her husband Harry goes out to buy cigarettes and doesn’t return.
Jenny reaches breaking point. She is contemplating ending it all, but when she falls off the Brooklyn Bridge into the East River, she finds a surprising ally – and a magical way to rethink her ideas about success, motherhood and relationships. But confronting her inner demons is no easy task . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
As this whimsical modern-day fable from Shearn (How Far is the Ocean From Here) begins, Jenny Lipkin is living in a small apartment in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., and juggling two children and a husband, Harry, addicted to gambling. One day, Harry tells her that he's going out for cigarettes and never returns. Distraught, Jenny considers suicide, only to accidentally fall off the Brooklyn Bridge instead. While underwater, she meets a Russian mermaid, or rusalka, who saves her life but also possesses her. Fired with purpose by the mythical creature, Jenny begins a new career as a seamstress and pursues the stay-at-home dad next door. When Harry returns, however, Jenny must decide for herself who she really wants to be. There's no doubt that Shearn is gifted, crafting quirky and charming prose, as well as a protagonist who's articulately and believably ambivalent about motherhood. The mermaid, however, comes across as a needlessly fantastic overlay on a realistic story, while Harry's reappearance rings false. Shearn deftly paints her novel's familiar (at least to New Yorkers) setting, but she seems less certain of what to do with her plot.
