Ingo

In Cornish legend, the Zenor mermaid fell in love with Mathew Trewhella and enticed him away to live in the sea with her forever.

When Sapphy's father (also called Mathew Trewhella) disappears, she and her brother will not allow themselves to believe that he is dead. They encounter the Mer and then the exhilarating and threatening underwater world of Ingo for themselves, and are increasingly drawn to it.

In this first book of a series, Helen Dunmore offers Ingo as a place of refuge from and perhaps resolution of the painful events in the children's real lives. She also explores the intriguing idea that people's natures are in some way connected to the different earthly elements. Ingo is sparely told and beautifully evocative of its Cornish location.