When the Tides Held the Moon
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The Shape of Water meets The Greatest Showman in this beautifully illustrated queer historical cozy fantasy, as a young Puerto Rican immigrant goes through a journey of love and self-discovery after capturing a merman for a Coney Island sideshow act in turn-of-the 20th century New York.
"A lushly illustrated historical romance . . . This book is a charming fable — an elemental dance of fire and water." ―THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist | BookRiot Best Books of the Year | Amazon Best Romantasy of the Year | Reader's Digest Top 10 of the Year
Benigno “Benny” Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can’t call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds everyone, especially the eccentric side-show proprietor who commissioned it. Benny’s work earns him an invitation to join the show’s eclectic crew of performers—his first welcome in the city—and share in their astonishing secret: the tank Benny built is a cage for their newest exhibit, a living, breathing, in-the-flesh merman stolen from the banks of the East River under a gleaming full moon.
The merman is more than a mythic marvel, though. Benny comes to know Río as a clever philosopher, an observant traveler, and a kindred spirit more beautiful and compassionate than any human he’s ever met. Despite their different worlds, what begins as a friendship of necessity deepens to love, leading Benny’s heart into uncharted waters where he can no longer ignore the agonizing truth of Río’s captivity—and his own.
A cage is no place for a merman to survive. Though releasing Río means betraying his new family, bankrupting their home, and losing his soulmate forever, Benny must look within for the courage to do what’s right, and find a love strong enough to free them both.
“This is the start of something special.” —TJ KLUNE, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Cerulean Sea
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kelley debuts with a captivating and perfectly balanced blend of history, fantasy, and good old-fashioned carnival magic. In 1911 New York City, Puerto Rican immigrant Benny makes a meager and dangerous living as an ironworker. When a commission comes in to craft the elaborate metal support for a huge glass tank, Benny seizes the opportunity to prove his worth. The satisfied customer turns out to be Samuel Morgan, owner of Coney Island's struggling Luna Park carnival. Morgan offers Benny a home with the rest of the carnies and a better job if he comes along to catch the tank's intended inhabitant: a real live merman, soon to become the star of the Luna Park sideshow. Benny is seduced by the promise of a better life and finds acceptance among the sideshow workers, but he knows that he's made a terrible mistake immediately upon meeting the merman, Rio, with whom he is able to communicate. Deep beneath Rio's fury and despair at being trapped, there is a heart as huge and untamed as the ocean. Though they're from opposite worlds, the men grow closer until Benny must choose between the only place that has ever welcomed him and a love like nothing he's ever known. The setting is transporting and the romance is heartrending. It's a triumph.
