Amy Shearn

The Mermaid of Brooklyn Amy Shearn

In this beautifully written novel that blends the whimsy of The Time Traveler's Wife with an indelible portrait of motherhood, a young woman strives to pick up the pieces after her husband mysteriously leaves--and she finds strength from the unlikeliest of allies. Jenny Lipkin is an average, stretched-too-thin Brooklyn mom tackling the challenges of raising two children in a cramped Park Slope walk-up and bonding with the other moms about breast-feeding while spending endless hours in Prospect Park. All she really wants is to survive the sweltering New York summer with a shred of sanity intact. But when her husband Harry, a compulsive gambler, vanishes one evening without a word, Jenny finally reaches her breaking point. In a moment of despair, a split-second decision changes her life forever. Pulled from the brink by an unexpected--and as it turns out, sometimes annoying--supernatural ally, Jenny is forced to rethink her ideas about success, motherhood, romance, and relationships. Confronting her inner demons--of both the mermaid and nonmermaid variety--is no easy task, and eventually Jenny has to come to terms with who she truly is, for better or worse.