Monique Roffey

April 1976: St Constance, a tiny Caribbean village on the the island of Black Conch. A fisherman sings to himself in his pirogue, waiting for a catch — but attracts a sea-dweller he doesn't expect. Aycayia, a beautiful young woman cursed by jealous wives to live as a mermaid, has been swimming the Caribbean Sea for centuries. And she is entranced by this man David and his song. 

But her fascination is her undoing. She hears his boat's engine again and follows it, and finds herself at the mercy of American tourists, landed on the island for the annual fishing competition. After a fearsome bettle, she is pulled out of the sea and strung up on the dock as a trophy. It is David who rescues her, and gently wins her trust — as slowly, painfully, she starts to transform into a woman again. But transformations are not always permanent, and jealousy, like love, can have the force of a hurricane, and last much longer.

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