About this item
"Dazzling...[a] quirky, raucous, and bewitching family saga." --Sara Gruen, author of Water for ElephantsSimon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead. His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival.One June day, an old book arrives on Simon's doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who purchased it on speculation. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid.
About the Author
Author of LIGHT FROM OTHER STARS, and the national bestseller THE BOOK OF SPECULATION. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in Literary Hub, Catapult Story, VIDA, The New York Times, and elsewhere. She lives on Long Island, NY, where she writes, bakes, is a casual runner, and has strong feelings about typewriters.
