The Mermaids Singing, Lisa Carey
The Mermaids Singing, Lisa Carey
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The Mermaids Singing

Author: Lisa Carey

Narrator: Jan Maxwell

Abridged: 2 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/01/1998


Synopsis

There is an island off the west coast of Ireland called Inis Muruch—the Island of the Mermaids—a world where myth is more powerful than truth, where the sea sings with the healing and haunting voices of women, and where death is never as strong as the redemptive power of family and love. It is here that Lisa Carey sets her lyrical and sensual first novel, weaving together the voices and lives of three generations of Irish-American women.
Years ago, Cliona—strong, proud, and practical—sailed for Boston, determined to one day come home. But when the time came to return to Inis Muruch, her daughter Grace—fierce, beautiful, and brazenly sexual—resented her mother's isolated, unfamiliar world. Though entranced by the sea and its healing powers, Grace became desperate to escape the confines of the island, one day stealing away with her small daughter Grainne.
Now Grainne, motherless at fifteen after Grace's death from breast cancer—is about to be taken back across the ocean by Cliona, repeating the journey her mother was forced to make years before. She goes to meet a father she has never known, her heart pulled between a life where she no longer belongs to a family she cannot remember. On the rocky shores of Inis Muruch, she waits for her father, and begins to discover her own sexual indentity even as she struggles to understand the forces that have torn her family apart.
In her first novel, Lisa Carey has crafted voices so real and passionate that they resonate within the listener long after the last words are heard.


Reviews

Goodreads review by M.M. Strawberry on July 28, 2017

This book isn't really about mermaids, so be forewarned. It's more of a 'chick lit' book (perfect for those of you who like chick lit) and it was a book I really enjoyed. It's interesting to see the relationships between mom and daughter (Cliona/Grace, Grace/Grainne) as well as grandmother and grand......more

Goodreads review by Antof9 on December 02, 2008

Read the majority of this while "decking" (enjoying the sun on our back deck with wandererjen. I both liked and didn't like it. I loved the Irish-ness of it. Loved the musical language, the names I memorized to pronounce correctly (and now can't spell without looking because they aren't spelled like......more

Goodreads review by Kyli on July 29, 2012

I really liked the writing style in this book - it was lyrical and visual and it grabbed my attention right from the start. It was absolutely enchanting at times. I loved the Irish folklore that it included and how it was woven into the story itself. The geographic detail was impressive too and it a......more

Goodreads review by Vanessa on June 12, 2010

Curiously enough, this book reminds me of two of my most recent reads combined. Not only does the motif of mermaids persist in this, as it does with The Mermaid's Chair (completely unrelated to this book), but the concept of isolation and emergence works its way through in this book as well using th......more

Goodreads review by Sierra on April 27, 2015

I suppose it had great imagery and an interesting story, but for me it was ruined by how unlikeable the three main women are, particularly Grace, who is so selfish throughout the story it borders on being a sociopath.......more