New Today: Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale by Carolyn Turgeon

Carolyn Turgeon is building a career writing enchanting books featuring some pretty magical characters. She did it with her debut novel -- the YA focused Rain Village (2006) -- and again in Godmother, a retelling of the Cinderella story that I enjoyed back in 2009.

In 2011, Turgeon hits her stride with Mermaid (Broadway), a book just as enchanting as those earlier two, but with a darker edge along with what I judge to be a more mature tone and more complete depth to her writing. In any case, it’s a very good book.

A young mermaid princess named Lenia falls in love with a man she rescues from a shipwreck. She longs to be with him again, so cuts a deal with the sea witch. Lenia will give her voice and tongue for a potion that will turn her into human form. Things would go smoothly from here but, of course, they do not when a complicated and unlikely triangle erupts.

Mermaid is meant to be a new twist on Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale. Turgeon shakes up all the darkness of the original, leaving readers with a moody yet somehow more evolved tale.