The Mermaids of Lake Michigan

by Suzanne Kamata

Overview

Elise Faulkner is more at home in the waters of her beloved Lake Michigan than on land where her beauty queen mom is always on her back about her lack of a social life; her sister is dating the boy of her dreams; her favorite penpal—the one who wrote about mermaids in Ghana—has gotten married and ended their correspondence; and no one’s allowed to talk about her glamorous great-grandmother, the deep-sea wreck diver. Elise is biding her time with books until she can flee. But then crazy Chiara Hanover pops into her life, as does Miguel, a mysterious carnival worker whose dark future has been predicted by a gypsy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781942545590
Publisher:	Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
Publication date:	02/14/2017
Pages:	182
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.42(d)

Editorial Reviews

12/12/2016
In this intricately woven coming-of-age tale, Kamata (Losing Kei) explores destiny and regret. In the small town of Grand Haven on the shores of Lake Michigan, 17-year-old Elise Faulkner is chafing at the expectations of her former beauty queen mother when she becomes friends with the rebellious Chiara Hanover. Soon, Elise’s world revolves around Chiara and Miguel, a wandering carnival operator and musician who claims that he is Elise’s destined partner. Mixed in with Elise’s discoveries of what she wants out of life are her memories of childhood, and parallels between Elise and her mother slowly start to appear. Kamata attempts to add a deeper layer to the family similarities with tantalizing glimpses of a scandalous shipwreck-diving great-grandmother and references to Elise’s sister, Amanda, but Elise’s attempts to find her own path in opposition to her mother is what primarily drives events forward. A hint of magic, the mermaids of the title, and the annual Coast Guard festival make the final connections between Elise’s choices and her history. Agent: Carrie Pestritto, Prospect Agency. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

2016-09-28
A water-loving girl struggles to find her place on land in this novel. Growing up in Grand Haven, Michigan, by the shores of the titular lake, Elise Faulkner is shy and withdrawn, much to the chagrin of her ex-beauty queen mother. Despite the former Miss Coast Guard's efforts to help Elise make local friends, she prefers to stay home reading or writing to one of her international pen pals, like Fabrice Nwanko, the Ghanian schoolgirl who reveals her uncle's encounter with a mermaid. Elise is fascinated by mermaids because of her scandalous great-grandmother Margaret Stieg, a wreck diver who claimed her life was saved by one when her oxygen was cut off during an underwater mission to retrieve a sunken diamond ring. Elise's quiet, dreamy life changes when her mother introduces her to world-traveling, cigarette-smoking Chiara. As the two girls become fast friends, bonding over vintage fashion and playing hooky at the beach, Elise discovers she's inherited some of Margaret's daring after all—especially after meeting Miguel Ballesteros, a Roma carnival worker and flamenco guitarist who tells her, "I'm your destiny." Will their romance lure her away from the lake—and the people—she loves? And will the darkness of Miguel's future sweep Elise under with it? While Elise remains a fairly passive character throughout the narrative, Kamata (The Beautiful One Has Come, 2015, etc.) pulls off the difficult trick of writing a book that's thoughtful and slow-paced without overexplaining or making the story plodding. Her writing is clear and confident, with an eye for vivid details—"dormer windows like lidded eyes" or "one round little pea...like a jewel." She unfortunately uses the term "Gypsy" in place of "Roma" more than once, and Miguel's air of mystery may read as stereotypical. But readers carried along by Elise's tale will find themselves wanting more. A lyrical, compelling coming-of-age story with magical elements.

Kirkus Reviews