When the Mermaid Sings by Helen Hollick

When the Mermaid Sings by Helen Hollick

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


For years, Jesamiah Mereno has endured his older half-brother’s bullying. But the day they bury his father in 1708, the harassment goes too far and Jesamiah fights back. Banished from his home, he signs aboard a merchant ship bound for Port Royal where he hopes to meet up with a friend of his father, Captain Malachias Taylor. On the way, the vessel is overtaken by a Spanish warship. In spite of his young age, Jesamiah devises a wily plan and the merchant captain takes a risk on the fifteen year old.

Meeting Malachias and joining the privateer proves easier than Jesamiah expects, but he soon earns himself an enemy among the crew. He’s also tempted by a beautiful mermaid, who mistakes him for his father, and a girl’s voice he hears in his head. She’s come to him in the past, but has never revealed her name until now and more than once Tiola intervenes in dire situations. So does his father’s ghost, which leaves Jesamiah wondering who’s real and who’s not.

After a successful voyage, they put into port and Malachias disappears. A week later a note arrives with orders for Jesamiah to appear at a gentleman’s club. When he gets there, he must play the final round of a high-stakes card game. Contrary to Malachias’s hope, Jesamiah loses and, once again, Jesamiah comes up with an audacious plan to regain what is lost. This time it means they can never return to Port Royal.

This novella is a prequel to Hollick’s Sea Witch Voyages and takes place over the span of two years. Readers learn why Jesamiah changes his surname to Acorne, as well as how he becomes a pirate. Along the way, he meets Henry Jennings, whom he crosses paths with time and again in the future, and Charles Vane, who becomes a deadly enemy. An accusation of murder and a sea battle that nearly costs Jesamiah his life are but two of the mishaps he endures in this fast-paced enchanted tale set before his days as captain of the Sea Witch.




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