Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale [Paperback]

Carolyn Turgeon (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 2011

Two sheltered princesses, one wounded warrior; who will live happily ever after?
 
Princess Margrethe has been hidden away while her kingdom is at war. One gloomy, windswept morning as she stands in a convent garden overlooking the icy sea, she witnesses a miracle: a glittering mermaid emerging from the waves, a nearly drowned man in her arms. By the time Margrethe reaches the shore, the mermaid has disappeared into the sea. As Margrethe nurses the handsome stranger back to health, she learns that not only is he a prince, he is also the son of her father's greatest rival. Sure that the mermaid brought this man to her for a reason, Margrethe devises a plan to bring peace to her kingdom.
 
Meanwhile, the mermaid princess Lenia longs to return to the human man she carried to safety. She is willing to trade her home, her voice, and even her health for legs and the chance to win his heart….  

A surprising take on the classic tale, Mermaid is the story of two women with everything to lose. Beautifully written and compulsively readable, it will make you think twice about the fairytale you heard as a child, keeping you in suspense until the very last page.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Turgeon's surprisingly dark retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, two women pine for the affections of a prince: mermaid Lenia, who pulls Prince Christopher from the sea, and Margrethe, the princess of the rival kingdom, who witnesses the rescue from the convent where she hides from the war raging between their two kingdoms. Lenia, who falls instantly in love with the prince, sacrifices the sea, her voice, and her health to be with him on dry land. Meanwhile, Margrethe believes that marrying the prince would unite their kingdoms, but when she arrives to arrange it, she finds him already enraptured with Lenia. While he remains unaware that the girl he loves is also the mermaid who saved him, Margrethe recognizes her rival immediately and puts into motion a plan to send the ailing mermaid back to the sea and save her own ravaged kingdom. Turgeon has done a superb job of creating compelling characters and conflict from a story already familiar to readers. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

Turgeon refashions Hans Christian Andersen�s beloved classic, The Little Mermaid, into something altogether darker and more foreboding. When two women from two decidedly different worlds fall for the same prince, what else can ensue but heartache and misery? After rescuing a human from the sea, mermaid Princess Lenia falls hard for Prince Christopher, even agreeing to give up her beautiful voice and to endure the constant pain caused by her new legs in order to pursue him on dry land. Meanwhile, Princess Margrethe has also set her sights on the handsome prince in hopes of uniting their two warring kingdoms. With Lenia�s life on the line and war looming on the horizon, the prince�s choice is bound to have catastrophic consequences. More robust than a fractured fairy tale, Turgeon�s brooding retelling gives voice to both women, fleshing out an essentially tragic tale of destiny and desire. Not exactly a cozy bedtime story, but guaranteed to keep you guessing who�if anyone�will live happily ever after. --Margaret Flanagan

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; Original edition (March 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307589978
• ISBN-13: 978-0307589972
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carolyn Turgeon is the author of five novels: Rain Village; Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story; Mermaid, which is currently being developed for film by Sony Pictures; The Next Full Moon, her first children's book; and the upcoming The Fairest of Them All, which is the story of Rapunzel growing up to be Snow White's stepmother. Carolyn lives between Pennsylvania and New York, and is a faculty member of the University of Alaska at Anchorage's Low-Residency MFA program. Visit her online at carolynturgeon.com and read her mermaid blog at iamamermaid.com/.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not a Twist, a Takeover June 28, 2011

By S. Lawson

Format:Paperback

I enjoy reading fairytale retellings, and I enjoyed this one when I first started it. However, after the first 50% of the book, when the mermaid first got her legs, I began disliking it tremendously. I'll start at the top.

First, I was intrigued by the author's choice to switch narratives between the mermaid and the princess that SPOILER the prince ends up with in the end of the original fairytale. I was always curious about that princess and was to hear about her. In this story, the princess is Margrethe, and she came across as a spoiled brat who couldn't buckle down and do what needed to be done because she was feeling sorry for herself. There was a glimmer of hope when she felt guilty about the poverty forced on her citizens by her father's lust for war. However, she didn't really pursue that much. Yes, she wanted to end the war, but the book never really addressed how she planned to do that after she married herself off. There were two different messages in regard to Margrethe: 1) that no matter how educated she was she was only a woman and her only true value was marrying herself off and 2) that she was supposedly going to be the mother of some great hero/king (a plot point which, sadly, is never developed). The two messages seem incohesive and are used too much as excuses for the character rather than true motivations.

As far as Lenia (the mermaid) goes, I thought her to be charming at first and her innocently naive ideas about souls were fun to read about. I appreciated the non-Disney peek into her underwater world, though I was annoyed at the persistent references to her naked breasts. Yes, she's a mermaid, I KNOW she's naked, but I did not need it pounded into my head with a hammer. I also
thought the glitter thing was interesting but not explained enough. However, once we get ton the point where she decides to take the sea witch's offer (a choice which seems to be made with very little thought, even in the sea witch's opinion) I begin to really dislike her. Well, that may be a bit strong, but why on earth would she let the prince into her pants (figuratively speaking) after only being acquainted with him for a couple of hours? It's kind of obvious that they don't do it the same way in the sea, and yet she was totally okay with and adept at this after being a human for less than a day? I just didn't buy it.

That, of course, leds me to the prince, who strikes me far more as a Henry XIII type instead of a Prince Charming! Normally
a personality-devoid Prince Charmimg would be at the bottom of my list, but I think I would take that over this guy! He not only SPOILER sleeps with the mermaid all the time but also impregnates her and doesn't feel the slightest bit of shame for it. I get that the author was trying to create a world in which this was normal, but it just didn't work out! It didn't help that the pregnancy was like "Breaking Dawn" vampire-baby rapid pregnancy, but no one seemed to notice! There were so many areas that I think the author could have focused on, such as Agnes (the healer who seemed to have an interesting past) or the sea witch or even Margrethe's mother and her death. I did not understand the actions of her father, who seemed ready to jump to war at any time, but when Margrethe decided to go marry the Prince and tell him afterward, he seemed totally okay with it. I'm not even going to address the whole obsessive love at first issues, as it would be like beating a dead horse.

In conclusion, the characterization, plot holes, and ending to the story ll disappointed me. I wanted to enjoy this book, and I did at first, but when I finished it I felt like I had just finished a romance novel disguised as a fairytale especially because it was made to sound that Margrethe and the prince love happily ever after when it's clear that it is a screwed- up relationship. It was too sentimental and fell flat when trying to address social issues and gender roles in the vague time and place that this story was set in. I honestly feel bad that I had to be so critical, but the book just did not live up to it's potential.

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A fairy tale for adults February 8, 2011

By a VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I should begin by sharing that I am a fan of all things mermaid related. My home is filled with statues and collectibles, and I have more than one mini-shrine devoted to the Disney adaptation of the classic story. That said, this particular novel took a few chapters to really capture my interest.

Carolyn Turgeon takes Hans Christian Anderson's classic, yet dark, children's story and turns it into a mature adult novel that switches its viewpoint between the mermaid who rescued the prince and the princess whom the prince thought saved him. True to the descriptive title, "A Twist on the Classic Tale," the author changes a few details, some as minor as the age of the mermaid, others as major as the dynamics of the relationship between the prince and mermaid. Yet, in the end, she finds a way for everyone to "live happily ever after." Recommended.

23 of 31 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Short but not sweet April 3, 2011

By Jennifer Mo VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

"The Little Mermaid" has never been my favorite fairy tale, and just about everything I disliked about it is magnified in this retelling: the clueless prince, the lovesick mermaid, and the weird sentimentality of it all. I keep hoping for a retelling that will make the fairy tale more palatable, but Carolyn Turgeon's Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale isn't it.

The premise is interesting enough. Turgeon shifts the focus away from the prince (here a faceless womanizer whose appeal is a complete mystery) to the two princesses, one human, one mermaid. The story starts when Princess Margrethe sees a beautiful mermaid haul an unconscious man to the shore, kiss him, and silently beg Margrethe to help him. She does, and the prince mistakes her as the woman who saved him from drowning.

Stop me if this is sounding familiar. Shifting perspectives between Margrethe and the mermaid Lenia, the plot follows Andersen's story faithfully for most of the book, so there are few real surprises. Margrethe's fascination with both Lenia and the prince leads to a lopsided love triangle, complete with flowery but non-graphic sex, an incredibly vague war in an equally vague setting, and the inevitable awkwardness of French kissing a girl without a tongue. The scenes set in the underwater world have the potential to be interesting, but the most we really get out of them is an explanation of why mermaids don't go wrinkly from being in the water all the time (thicker, harder skin). Good to know.

The main problem isn't the flimsy plot that reunites the three characters, or even the stilted dialogue. It's the flatness of both central characters. Margrethe is your average mildly spirited princess, and Lenia is so bland that losing her ability to speak doesn't make much difference. It's hard to care what happens to either of them.

At about 250 pages, Mermaid is a quick read with occasionally pretty descriptions, but not a memorable one.