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Book Reviewed by:In this breathless and beautifully crafted tale, twelve-year-old Neen Marrey must separate town gossip from town lore to learn the truth about her mother - and herself.
The people of Carrick Island have been whispering behind Neen's back ever since her father drowned and her mother disappeared. The townspeople say her mother was a merrow and has returned to the ocean. Neen, caught in her hazy new in-between self - not a child, but not quite grown up - can't help but wonder if the villagers are right. But if her mother was a merrow, then what does that make Neen?
Although some readers may relish the folklore than infuses the novel, others may grow impatient with the slow pacing that results from the numerous stories within the main story. In the end, Neen’s narrative suggests that the stories that sustain us and give us hope, the ones that are most powerful and important, might not always be the ones that are objectively true: “If I didn’t make my own story, there were plenty to do it for me. Some would do it kindly, others any way they could, but I knew now I wouldn’t like it. What I needed was a new story, the right story to say what I knew about Mam; I needed a story in which both lies and facts could turn to truth in my throat.” Merrow isn’t just a mermaid story; it’s a novel about the importance of stories to make sense of our own and others’ lives...continued
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(Reviewed by Norah Piehl).
One of the main storylines of Merrow involves the arrival of a man, Ulf, who Auntie Ushag, using her native Manx language, calls a "wiggynagh," or what we'd call a Viking. Like many elements of the novel, this has a basis in historical fact, since the Isle of Man has a significant history of Viking exploration and settlement.
According to historian and archaeologist David Griffiths, the Isle of Man's central location in the Irish Sea – nearly equidistant from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales – made it an attractive and strategic destination for the many sea-faring raiders from Scandinavia (known today as Vikings) who raided, traded and settled their way across most of Europe and much of Russia for the best part...
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