The Mermaid Chronicles: A Midlife Mer-moir

by Megan Dunn

The true tale of how one woman’s lifelong obsession became a midlife mermaid odyssey, from the irrepressibly witty author of Tinderbox and Things I Learned at Art School.

Forty, freckled and facing infertility, Megan Dunn hears the siren call that reawakens her lifelong obsession, and sets off in pursuit of mermaids. Real mermaids.

From Coney Island and Copenhagen to Courtenay Place, Wellington, New Zealand, from the semiotics of 1984 romantic comedy Splash to meet-ups with top professional mermaids, her odyssey takes her fathoms
deep, past the wreck and the boardwalk, as she asks the question that has plagued humans for millennia: What is it about mermaids?

Diving into the caverns of her own life, Megan loses the plot but finds her voice and hears the mermaids singing.

Shimmeringly intellectual and devastatingly deadpan, tragicomic and true, this is an off-the-hook tale about sex and death, mothers and daughters, women’s work and marriage, the stories we tell ourselves and the myths that define us all.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2024

About the author

Megan Dunn studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, graduating in 2006. She won an Escalator award from the New Writing Partnership (now The Writers’ Centre Norwich) and her short story 'The Mermaid and the Music Box' was included in Roads Ahead, a 2009 anthology of new writers published by Tindal St Press. Her first book, Tinderbox, was published by Galley Beggar Press in November 2017.

Reviews

[Emma McCleary · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s so much to relate to in this book of mermaids and memoir. I rarely choose memoir, in fact they usually infuriate me because people tend to lean in to their interesting lives and give nothing to the writing, which becomes dull and journalistic (this happened then that happened). I’m happy to say this was the opposite. Of course mermaids are beautiful, alluring, fantastical, and otherworldly but woven in around this is what gives this book heart; just a regular middle aged woman living life. The way Megan wrote about having a child as an older mother and her journey into perimenopause was so relatable as to be devastating. Those feels of motherhood and losing yourself while wholly and desperately loving your baby. Ooof. And I laughed and grimaced as Fearne whined at the cat door while Megan was overseas, given I am someone whose child once had to have a shrine of photos of me set up beside her bed before she could even contemplate sleeping.

The vulnerability and honesty of how Megan writes her relationships (Rich and her mother) and her own insecurities about her looks makes you wish at times that she’d lied a little to save the blushes, but she lays it out and it’s raw and truthful and makes her story so real.

And then there’s her very clear love of language, which makes reading this book delightful. Clever turns of phrase. Like words with like to give them second meanings, and phrasing that is witty, clever and lyrical. Towards the end of the book in the chapter Oceanic Feeling she writes about Lorde’s song of the same name. It wasn’t one I was familiar with so stopped and played it as I read. It was incredibly satisfying and surely coincidental that I finished reading the chapter just as the song ended.

I also loved being able to scroll back through Instagram and see all the photos she mentioned in the book. It gave the story another layer.

This is a rich story with such depth and one that I enjoyed a lot and that dragged me out of my reading slump.

[Courtney Johnston]

Hearing Megan talk with Harry Ricketts at Verb made me realize what a difficult structural challenge this book is — midlife memoir AND a study of the contemporary mermaid phenomena. Reading it, I also thought about Kate Camp saying (I paraphrase) that to write well about yourself you have to write until you get past your vanity, and then start for real.

[Keen Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy the way she reads and relates to the world, in a kind of offbeat way, which makes her relatable. This was obviously a difficult project to undertake, for a number of reasons, and I think that shows, as this isn't quite up to the quality or consistency of her previous works.

As well as the repetition from previous books this can slip into the realms of a drab, depressing misery memoir. Thankfully these never last too long and were obviously reflective of the trials and hardship she was dealing with at the time. But in spite of its flaws and occasional verbosity this was still an enjoyable read and Dunn is still good company and a writer of quality.

[Hannah Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memoir heaven. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. A mermaid obsession, a perimenopausal mum, everything laid bare.

[Jessica Hinerangi T. Carr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fav book of 2024! Cried so hard in the end and I'm officially saving up for my mermaid tail now.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well thanks to Megan Dunn I am now obsessed but not with mermaids. In one interview with a mermaid Megan mentions a dinner plate sized batfish that does backflips when stressed. I had never heard of batfisb and when I googled it came across the red-lipped batfish, the most gloriously grumpy looking creature with massive red lips like lippie has just been applied.

Batfish aside this book is not just about mermaids, it's also about relationships Megan's mum and Megan's daughter and the beautiful relationship between the three of them.

[Cormac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another elite read from Megan Dunn

[JJ]

I've enjoyed Megan's essays and two previous books (Tinderbox more) but I was probably the target demo. The Mermaid Chronicles isn't for me. I'm not a middle-aged woman and I haven't seen Splash. However, I had the pleasure of interning for Megan when I was in undergrad & transcribed many of the skype calls she had with the professional mermaids, so a lot of the book felt like deja vu. (Also the whole Skype thing feels like such a throwback in a Zoom / Microsoft Teams world.) I guess because of my awareness of the whole mermaid industry it didn't feel as novel? I think that's what most people have gotten a kick out of? It read to me as a relatively unremarkable memoir from a contract that required 300+ pages. That sounds harsh but there is a lot of bloat. There's also threads that aren't pulled. First husband? Stripping? I guess it's supposed to be more about the middle of her life, so that's where the focus is but even though Megan's written a lot of autobiographical work I think there's some ground she's avoided covering and it's to the book's detriment.

The narrative gets tied up nicely with Megan catching her white whale by interviewing Splash star Darryl Hannah, accentuated by the growth of her daughter—who has a lot of witty one-liners. Nevertheless hope this nabs the Ockham as a gesture to recognise of her body of work.

Would've appreciated a shout-out in the acknowledgments btw ;)

[Octavia Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great! I too love mermaids, and so a memoir exploring their history - the author is an expert in mermaids, and was researching them over the course of the book - was right up my alley. I admit, I'd never heard of real life mermaids before, of people who made a living by wearing tails and giving performances, but now I'd quite like to see one. I think it's safe to say, though, that if I were to buy one of those tails and give it a go myself, there'd be significantly more floundering involved.

That said, there's really something fascinating about mermaids, and about how many women, in particular, are drawn to them. They're such liminal creatures, not quite human and not quite fish, sometimes capable of existing in both marine and terrestrial environments. Perhaps that's part of the appeal: the possibility of border crossing and of the freedom of a creature which, by their very nature, exists in a constant state of transgression and makes no apologies for it. That can seem very aspirational when everyday life and the struggles of family, finances, and career - a secondary strain of this particular book - can sometimes feel constraining.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, anyway. Weird fish obsessions for the win!

[Alice Mander]

I really enjoyed this book ! Megan has a really fun and strong voice, and I found the themes of beauty, motherhood, and aging really compelling. Surprisingly I found the mermaid stuff less compelling, and at times it felt like Megan herself lost interest in the very topic she was determined to write about. Although, there’s something quite relatable about that. Anywho , overall I enjoyed and would recommend as a light read.

[Michelle Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn’t too sure about this book and the deep dive into professional mermaiding culture but Dunn manages to weave this interesting subculture into a beautiful memoir of mother and daughter relationships

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wildly good. I didn't enjoy Dunn's first book as much, but this really shows the depth of her craft and her obsession with mermaids. It's excellent. I love the juxtaposition of the mundanity of life, and the marvels of life, with mermaids and that mermaids are just people too. Brava!!!

[Eves.Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me snort and chortle and cry and learn. Such a gem. Can’t wait to re-read it instead of speed read it ahead of seeing Megan at the Verb Festival. Also jazzed to read her other books.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Loved her witt and self deprecating humour.

[Chloe Stol · Rating 5 out of 5]

i don’t want to sound dramatic but this book kinda changed my life

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved. Need to read Things I Learned At Art School. Her writing is 🤌🏻

[Belle]

Mmm, not sure how I feel about it. No star rating until I sit on it for a bit.

[Elle B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learnt some interesting facts about mermaids