Virtue is supposedly its own reward, but I have come to wonder if there is anything inherently virtuous about self-sacrifice. He doesn't add all our kind deeds together and dish out an appropriate dollop of good fortune in return. God does not keep a tally of our dogged obedience, our moments of self-denial or deferred gratification. And I felt so sorry for Ellen, the last person standing in this story, and the saddest:
I was completely absorbed from the first page to the very last. The Cornish landscape comes alive too, in all its threat and beauty. It doesn't miss a beat, inhabiting the minds of two disparate young women - Selina gets a turn or two at narration herself - and a regretful old lady in perfect harmony. The writing is sophisticated and elegant. As a counterpoint to these themes, the narrative contains a double mystery which is gradually revealed through Ellen's memories, a book of mermaid paintings and the death of an old friend - was Selina really a mermaid? And how did Jack come to die so tragically? It's about sibling rivalry, sexual jealousy and unfulfilled lives. And being back at Spindrift just seems to magnify the memories even further. Her marriage was happy but dull, her two sons live far away and don't really keep in contact. Left without her twin, she's struggled with all the relationships she's made.
This drama - and we find out early on that Jack died before he could make it back to London - has ruled most of Ellen's subsequent life. Selina Penaluna is narrated mostly by Ellen as an old lady as she's selling Spindrift, the home on the Cornish cliffs that was the scene of the dramas played out so many years before. Jack on the other hand resents the Rosewarnes' stifling affections and wants nothing more than to go home. Nellie is keen to better herself and thrives in her new middle class surroundings. Nellie and Jack are twins, but they are very different people. Nellie and Jack are evacuated Londoners, taken in by the Rosewarnes. Her father drinks too much and when he's drunk Selina has to barricade her bedroom door against his unwelcome attentions. And when her mother leaves home with a travelling salesman it doesn't get any better. Viewed as a changeling by her own mother, Selina's childhood isn't a happy one. When the real Selina slipped from her mother's arms into a deep rockpool, she was exchanged for a mermaid child. Selina is a mermaid - merrymaid as she calls them - or so her mother told her. Beautiful and haunting writing lifts it above much of the competition. Summary: A lyrical book in which an old woman looks back over her wartime childhood and finally makes peace with her past.
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