May feels her life drying up. The sea calls to her, but her parents forbid her from swimming. She longs for books, but her mother fi nds her passion for learning strange. She yearns for independence, but a persistent suitor,
Rudd, wants to tame her spirited ways. Yet after her fi fteenth birthday, the urge to break free becomes overpowering and May makes a lifechanging discovery. She does not belong on land where girls are meant to
be obedient. She is a mermaid—a creature of the sea.
For the fi rst time, May learns what freedom feels like—the thrill of exploring both the vast ocean and the previously forbidden books. She even catches the eye of Hugh, an astronomy student who, unlike the townspeople,
fi nds May anything but strange. But not everyone is pleased with May’s transformation. Rudd decides that if can’t have May, no-one will. He knows how to destroy her happiness and takes drastic measures to ensure that May loses everything: her freedom and the only boy she’s ever loved.
Ages 12+
