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The Mermaid of Black Conch: The spellbinding winner of the Costa Book of the Year as read on BBC Radio 4

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The transformations in the novel are messy and difficult and often general mermaid lore is turned on its head. There is a curse, but it is not one that is easily broken. Instead of the necessity of keeping something belonging to the mermaid, David gives the mermaid (named Aycayia) a pair of sneakers to help her walk. She is taught language by a good friend of David (Arcadia) and befriends Arcadia’s ten year old son Reggie who uses sigh language as he is without hearing. This could have illuminated the narcissism-born blindspots of the explorers and their successors. This could have been a subversive commentary on the damage colonialism has done to generations of Indigenous and Afro Carribean people; lost knowledge, culture, faith, science, etc. This could have been an examination of the fear and exploitation of young women's sexuality, and male entitlement to feminine bodies. This could have been a parable for the effects unfettered capitalism has had on tropical regions, which have been hit head-on with the consequences of climate change already. This could have torn the whole Manifest Destiny idea a new one. Recommended – and a novel which I think has a strong chance of prize recognition – Booker or Women’s Prize if the entry barriers for small presses don’t prevent it, as well as the Republic of Consciousness Prize. T: Yea, wow! I really like the way in which Roffey uses different forms to give each character a different voice, and it totally makes sense to me that Aycayia’s voice is expressed through verse. Her name means “she with a lovely voice,” and she says this in the book. But it also makes their voices distinctive, and moving between reflection and events kind of helps pull the story along as we get the benefit of hindsight and introspection. Besides, Grace says, laughing, those who levelled accusations at her of having made Māori “the good guys” of Potiki, and white New Zealanders “the bad guys”, did not realise she had never specified what race the greedy developers in the story were.

But her transformation is aborted, the curse prevails, and the community prepares to sell her to the Americans. As David and his friends form a protective guard around Aycayia, the god Huracan marshals all his forces to sweep her away. The departure of Roffey’s mermaid unleashes the elements – a warning to an over-heated world. I prefer when it's substituted with a realistic description allowing me to see characters more as fully fleshed human beings. What an epic well thought out love story with a realistic Caribbean twist. A Mermaid caught off the coast of a Caribbean island and she ends up falling in love with a lowly fisherman… I WANT MORE! I read this story in one day because it just had to know what became of these lovers. The writing was well executed, and the pacing perfect for the kind of story that was being told. We had history, folklore, power dynamics, and such tender moments all interspersed throughout the novel.Okay, anyone who knows me as a reader knows this book isn't going to be my cup of tea. I really don't like magical realism no matter how many awards the book has won. Her own depictions have ranged from French Creoles to the protagonist of her 2009 novel The White Woman on the Green Bicycle. Shortlisted for the Orange prize, it was a story of ex-colonial immigrants like Roffey’s own mother, who became well-known for cycling around the island on a green bike that she had been given as a wedding present. A joy to read, brimming with memorable characters and vivid descriptions. . . . For me, this was a hugely entertaining and thought-provoking novel.” —Rebecca Jones, BBC News Lipscomb said the judges deliberated for three hours before choosing Roffey as their winner. “The novel feels like one of those stories you think you must have known before, because it already feels like a classic,” she said. “The mermaid is pulled out of the sea in this really arresting scene that, pun fully intended, hooks you in the novel just as much as she is hooked by the fisherman. And then it’s a question of whether she could become a woman again, and live in a modern Caribbean society and all the questions that raises. When we think of mermaids, because of Disney we think of fairytales, but this is a visceral mermaid – as she becomes a woman parts of her tail fall off and she smells. It’s very evocative in terms of the physicality.” During a fishing competition a couple of wealthy Americans manage to capture the mermaid and plan to exploit her, that is until David saves her. These sections are narrated by the author.

A fisherman on the beach at Maracas Bay on the northern coast of Trinidad. Photograph: Aaron Mccoy/Getty Images/Robert Harding Worl But when the annual fishing competition takes place on the island, attracting entrants from all over the Caribbean and further afield, including a father and son from Florida, David accidentally leads them in her direction, and they capture Aycayia, after an epic (and wonderfully portrayed) struggle. As they celebrate in the local rum shop, David finds Aycayia hanging from a fish hook, cuts her down and takes her to his house.

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The catching of the mermaid is pure Hemingway with the father and son US tourists fishing for marlin and the struggle to land her is long and messy and brutal. The older man is angry when his catch disappears: The structure of the novel was original and really worked for me. The two narrators did a wonderful job to bring the story and the people to life. I am looking forward to reading more of Monique Roffey, a talented writer from Trinidad and Tobago.

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