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Overview
A whisper on the tide
Sapphire's father mysteriously vanishes into the waves off the Cornwall coast where her family has always lived. She misses him terribly, and she longs to hear his spellbinding tales about the Mer, who live in the underwater kingdom of Ingo. Perhaps that is why she imagines herself being pulled like a magnet toward the sea. But when her brother, Conor, starts disappearing for hours on end, Sapphy starts to believe she might not be the only one who hears the call of the ocean.
In a novel full of longing, mystery, and magic, Helen Dunmore takes us to a new world that has the power both to captivate and to destroy.
Synopsis
A whisper on the tide
Sapphire's father mysteriously vanishes into the waves off the Cornwall coast where her family has always lived. She misses him terribly, and she longs to hear his spellbinding tales about the Mer, who live in the underwater kingdom of Ingo. Perhaps that is why she imagines herself being pulled like a magnet toward the sea. But when her brother, Conor, starts disappearing for hours on end, Sapphy starts to believe she might not be the only one who hears the call of the ocean.
In a novel full of longing, mystery, and magic, Helen Dunmore takes us to a new world that has the power both to captivate and to destroy.
Publishers Weekly
Dunmore's (The Siege, for adults) richly imagined fantasy, her first for young adults, posits tension between two parallel worlds: one undersea, the other along the rocky Cornwall coast. Sapphire, 11, and her older brother, Conor, have grown up in a close-knit family, loving the tidal cove below their cottage. Their father, Mathew, a fisherman and photographer, adores the sea; on the other hand, their mother has, in her words, "good reason to fear" it. When Dad disappears, and part of his boat is found, the family holds a memorial service and moves painfully through grief. Even a year after his disappearance, Sapphy and Conor refuse to believe their father is dead, while their mother begins to move on, befriending a visiting diver. Mer children Faro and Elvira begin to court the siblings, introducing them to such marvels as breathing underwater and swimming with dolphins. Ingo, the undersea world about which their father sang, beckons overpoweringly, and Sapphy, who is drawn back there repeatedly, begins to understand the Mer language. A wise beekeeper, whom some suspect is a witch, seems to know Mathew's fate. She subtly intercedes as Sapphy vacillates, "cleft" between her Mer and Air identities, and also suggests that Ingo is "breaking its bounds," intruding into the Air world. Dunmore makes both settings riveting, and captures Sapphy's lonely struggle through the heroine's first-person narrative. Dualities skepticism and belief, collective memory and individual perception, the pull of Mer life versus Sapphy's family love persist to the tale's end and beyond. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Dunmore's (The Siege, for adults) richly imagined fantasy, her first for young adults, posits tension between two parallel worlds: one undersea, the other along the rocky Cornwall coast. Sapphire, 11, and her older brother, Conor, have grown up in a close-knit family, loving the tidal cove below their cottage. Their father, Mathew, a fisherman and photographer, adores the sea; on the other hand, their mother has, in her words, "good reason to fear" it. When Dad disappears, and part of his boat is found, the family holds a memorial service and moves painfully through grief. Even a year after his disappearance, Sapphy and Conor refuse to believe their father is dead, while their mother begins to move on, befriending a visiting diver. Mer children Faro and Elvira begin to court the siblings, introducing them to such marvels as breathing underwater and swimming with dolphins. Ingo, the undersea world about which their father sang, beckons overpoweringly, and Sapphy, who is drawn back there repeatedly, begins to understand the Mer language. A wise beekeeper, whom some suspect is a witch, seems to know Mathew's fate. She subtly intercedes as Sapphy vacillates, "cleft" between her Mer and Air identities, and also suggests that Ingo is "breaking its bounds," intruding into the Air world. Dunmore makes both settings riveting, and captures Sapphy's lonely struggle through the heroine's first-person narrative. Dualities skepticism and belief, collective memory and individual perception, the pull of Mer life versus Sapphy's family love persist to the tale's end and beyond. Ages 10-up. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.KLIATT
Sapphire/Sapphy and her brother Conor have known the sea all their lives because their dad has continued the family line of British fishermen. On the other hand, their mother fears the sea, with reason. One day their father disappears while going out to sea one evening. Sapphy and Conor try to find him and they meet two young people from Ingo, underwater natives. Although Conor can survive under the water's surface for a short time, it is Sapphy who finds that she is more comfortable living in the sea than on land. After their mother starts dating a diver named Roger, the children fear that their father will be forgotten. When Sapphy hears her father's watery voice, she becomes even more conflicted. Roger wants to explore a sacred part of the water, and the sea people are ready to attack any intruders. This realistic fantasy portrays a believable underwater world and its ties with land people. The main characters are well drawn; teenage and adult angst resonates. The end of the story leaves several questions because Ingo is the first volume of Dunmore's fantasy trilogy. I can't wait! KLIATT Codes: J—Recommended for junior high school students. 2006, HarperCollins, 329p., Ages 12 to 15.—Dr. Lesley Farmer
Children's Literature
Sapphire Trewhella and her older brother, Connor, have grown up exploring "their" beach and cove near their cottage on the Cornwall coast. They play on the white sand, climb on the rocks, and explore the tide pools and caves at the back of the beach. But they know that they must always watch the tide. What they are about to discover is that their beloved cove is neutral ground between two worlds—that of the Air people and that of Ingo, where the Sea people, the Mer, live. When their father takes his boat out one evening and never returns, Sapphy's world comes crashing down. She is suddenly drawn into the world of Ingo where she meets Faro, a Mer boy, whose sister, Elvira, has already introduced Conner to the beautiful but dangerous deep sea. Like the pull of the riptide beyond her cove, Ingo lures Sapphire to abandon her world. Suddenly even the taste of fresh water sickens her and she craves salt. Will the pull of the Air world, the love of her family, and a beautiful dog named Sadie be enough to keep her on land? Will she ever find out what happened to her dad, who she believes is still alive? This is a magical and compelling story that weaves mysterious legends of the sea together with the angst of growing up in the real world. Beautifully written and highly recommended. 2005, HarperCollins, and Ages 10 to 15.—Judy Crowder
VOYA
Sapphire's father tells her that long ago Mathew Trewhella fell in love with a mermaid, deserted his family, and went to live in the sea as one of the Mer. Now Sapphire and Conor's father-Trewhella's namesake-has also disappeared and is believed drowned. As Sapphire and Conor adjust to their father's absence and to their mother's growing friendship with a diver, Roger, they meet Faro and Elvira of the Mer who take them to Ingo deep under the ocean. Sapphire is especially drawn to stay there and has reason to hope that her father still lives. Nevertheless she understands the danger to Roger when he plans to dive in an area sacred to the Mer. Along with Faro and Elvira, she is forced to make a moral choice. Dunmore builds on a long tradition of stories about humans and mermaids, but just as the credulity of Roger is strained when from his boat he sees a mermaid who is the image of Sapphire, a lack of a sense of the mysterious makes this fantasy less than compelling. More depth and complexity would make the story more vital. Although Sapphire's and Conor's characters are quite well developed, Granny Carne's character verges on the stereotypical representation of a traditional wise woman. Still this novel, the first in a projected trilogy, might appeal to young or preteens looking for a family story and a fantasy that can, perhaps, satisfy an imaginative desire to meet and swim with the Mer. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P M (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8). 2005, HarperCollins, 336p., and PLB Ages 11 to 14.—Hilary S. Crew