The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock

Imogen Hermes Gowar

#3449 of 8,085 books · #535 in Historical Fiction

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction (2018).

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock was a Sunday Times bestseller. One September evening in 1785, the merchant Jonah Hancock finds one of his captains waiting eagerly on his doorstep. He has sold Jonah's ship for what appears to be a mermaid. As gossip spreads through the docks, coffee shops, parlours and brothels, everyone wants to see Mr Hancock's marvel. Its arrival spins him out of his ordinary existence and through the doors of high society, where he meets Angelica Neal, the most desirable woman he has ever laid eyes on. What will be the cost of their ambitions? And will they be able to escape the legendary destructive power a mermaid is said to possess?