Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon

Released: March 3rd, 2011

Publisher: Crown Publishing Group

Pages: 240

Rating: 4/5

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.

In Carolyn Turgeon's latest book, MERMAID, she takes on the daunting task of re-telling the beloved Hans Christian Anderson fairytale of "The Little Mermaid." And she handles the undertaking with grace, presenting a tale filled with well-written prose, and just the slightest touch of magic -- just the ingredients necessary for any good love story.

The lovely Margrethe is living in an isolated convent, shut away from everything and everyone she loves. Thought to be a simple novice, she is actually a princess in hiding. Her father is the king of the Northern lands, and there is talk of war brewing with the Southern lands, so he has hidden his only child away from the danger. Little did he realize danger was closer than he ever dreamed.

Red-haired Lenia is the youngest daughter to the Sea queen, a mermaid that lives in the sea near the convent. She loves her home in the water, but finds herself constantly longing for more than she has. On her eighteenth birthday, she is permitted to travel to the surface for a quick viewing. While up above, Lenia is caught in a terrible storm and sees a large ship on the brink of sinking forever. In a moment of weakness, she rescues a man from drowning, carrying him instead to land and dropping him at the feet of Margrethe.

It is this act of unselfish heroism that will ultimately bind these two women from very different worlds together forever. Both girls fall in love with the handsome Prince Christian, son of the Southern King. While Margrethe makes plans to bring peace to her country by uniting the two families together, Lenia makes the unimaginable sacrifice to gain her heart's desire -- she gives up her beautiful voice, and her way of life, to be able to spend the rest of her days as a human girl -- a decision that would bring her to the heights of love, and the depths of despair all too soon.

Carolyn Turgeon stays faithful to the original story of the young mermaid who gives up everything for love in this beautiful fable, but she also adds her own twist to the tale, bringing in an element of sensuality and eroticism that make this version very much a young adult story.