The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea

In a world divided by colonialism and threaded with magic, a desperate orphan turned pirate and a rebellious imperial lady find a connection on the high seas.Aboard the pirate ship Dove, Flora the girl takes on the identity of Florian the man to earn the respect and protection of the crew. For Flora, former starving urchin, the brutal life of a pirate is about survival: don't trust, don't stick out, and don't feel. But on this voyage, Flora is drawn to the Lady Evelyn Hasegawa, who is headed to an arranged marriage she dreads. Flora doesn't expect to be taken under Evelyn's wing, and Evelyn doesn't expect to find such a deep bond with the pirate Florian. Neither expects to fall in love.Soon the unlikely pair set in motion a wild escape that will free a captured mermaid (coveted for her blood) and involve the mysterious Pirate Supreme, an opportunistic witch, double agents, and the all-encompassing Sea herself.Deftly entwining swashbuckling action and quiet magic, Maggie Tokuda-Hall's inventive debut novel conjures a diverse cast of characters seeking mastery over their fates while searching for answers to big questions about identity, power, and love.

Autorentext

Maggie Tokuda-Hall has an MFA in creative writing from the University of San Francisco and a strong cake-decorating game. She is the author of the young adult novel The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea, *an indie bestseller and recipient of the Northern California Book Award in Children's Literature, and its sequel, The Siren, the Song and the Spy. Her other work includes the picture books Love in the Library illustrated by Yas Imamura; and Also an Octopus*, illustrated by Benji Davies, which won a Parents' Choice Gold Award. Maggie Tokuda-Hall lives in Oakland, California, with her children, husband, and dog.

Zusammenfassung
Bloody, poetic, rich with pirate politics, captured mermaids and a witch who wields the magic of stories, Tokuda-Hall's debut is original, satisfying and romantic - a swashbuckler with great imagination and emotional depth. The Guardian