The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock
The spellbinding Sunday Times bestselling historical fiction phenomenon
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- €4.99
Publisher Description
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
'Wonderful...completely transporting' Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe
One September evening in 1785, the merchant Jonah Hancock finds one of his captains waiting eagerly on his doorstep. He has sold Jonah's ship for what appears to be a mermaid.
As gossip spreads through the docks, coffee shops, parlours and brothels, everyone wants to see Mr Hancock's marvel. Its arrival spins him out of his ordinary existence and through the doors of high society, where he meets Angelica Neal, the most desirable woman he has ever laid eyes on...
What will be the cost of their ambitions? And will they be able to escape the legendary destructive power a mermaid is said to possess?
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PRAISE FOR THE MERMAID AND MRS HANCOCK:
'Full of rich detail' Stylist
'A gloriously assured debut, set in a beautifully drawn London' Red Magazine
'A deliciously salty slab of historical fiction' Daily Telegraph
'A wonderful read' Nina Stibbe
'A dizzyingly good debut' The Times
'Imogen Hermes Gowar delights in the feminine fakery of mermaids, but as a writer she is the real deal' Hermione Eyre, author of Viper Wine
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Beautiful courtesans, destructive mermaids, mercenary madams, raucous sailors; there’s little Imogen Hermes Gowar doesn’t throw at her extraordinary debut novel. And thanks to her deft, skilfully weaved plot, and gorgeous writing, it all comes together beautifully. The magic begins when merchant Jonah Hancock finds himself saddled with a real-life mermaid. This surrealist historical novel takes Hancock—and us—on a remarkable series of adventures through murky Victorian underworlds and high society as he attempts to recoup the money spent on his accidental purchase—not least a romantic one with the intoxicating Angelica Neal.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When a sedate, middle-aged London merchant falls in love with a beautiful prostitute, anything can happen and does in Gowar's delightful debut set in the late 18th century. The mermaid of the title is a dubious specimen delivered to Jonah Hancock by the master of one of his ships that ply the high seas. After the creature causes a sensation in London, Angelica Neal, a gorgeous, narcissistic courtesan, is enlisted by her former mentor, Mrs. Chapell, the proprietress of a high-class brothel, to "entertain" Hancock so he'll agree to bring his exhibit to Mrs. Chapell's celebrated institution. Smitten and lovelorn, Hancock is rebuffed by Angelica, who is in the midst of another love affair and jokingly dares Hancock to bring her another mermaid. It's only after she's abandoned and left destitute by her feckless love that Angelica realizes there might be something to Hancock after all, especially since he does deliver the required second mermaid. That purported sea creature brings an element of mystery to a novel alive with wit and humor. Gowar has a marvelous gift for the felicitous phrase and for Dickensian characters (Mrs. Chappell "is built like an armchair, more upholstered than clothed") and excels in astute social commentary, especially in descriptions of the lavish household goods, clothing, and food that money can buy in contrast with the mean lives of the poor in Deptford, where Hancock's shipping office is located. Angelica's gradual perception of the shallowness of her hermetic world is counterpointed by the blossoming of Hancock's niece, a shy 14-year-old, who comes into her own as his housekeeper. This is, indeed, a kind of fairy tale, one whose splendid combination of myth and reality testifies to Gowar's imagination and talent.
