The Mermaid & Mrs Hancock

Splendid

Ribald, bawdy and remarkable constructed, [Imogen Hermes Gowar] deftly weaves backstories and subplots into a rich tapestry where life-altering losses smack up against excessive indulgence.

The beautifully upholstered The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock, 2018's most hyped literary debut, is set over nine months in Georgian London... Like the recent historical-fiction hits Franics Spufford’s Golden Hill, Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent and Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist, this is a novel pungent in historical detail.

An enchanting swirl through Georgian London seduces with captive mermaids and courtesans -- and positively drips in rich magical realism.

Leisurely told and leavened with a knowing wit, Gowar’s debut... brims with colorful period vernacular and delicious phrasings.

There is much to chew on here, and much to savour, presented with wit and showmanship. Would that showmanship were a gender-neutral word, though, because all the elan of this book is female, from the madams running their girls, to the book’s most obvious literary forebear, Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus. Imogen Hermes Gowar delights in the feminine fakery of mermaids, but as a writer she is the real deal.

Behind the window trimmings of Gowar's epic romance lies an astute novel about class, race, and fate... An ambitious debut with enough romance, intrigue, and social climbing to fill a mermaid's grotto to the brim. (Starred Review)

This is, indeed, a kind of fairy tale, one whose splendid combination of myth and reality testifies to Gowar’s imagination and talent. (Starred Review) 

This is historical fiction at its finest, combining myth and legend with the brutal realities of the past...  Early as it is in the year to be predicting Booker nominations, if debuts feature as prominently as they did on last year’s longlist, this will surely merit consideration.

The story is by turns intriguing, touching, funny, sad and heartwarming. It will make you laugh and it may make you cry. Mostly, though, the cast of endlessly engaging characters will keep you turning the pages until you get to the wholly satisfying ending.

[A] beautifully written debut. By turns bawdy, witty and moving, this is a glorious romp through Georgian London.

Fascinating and funny... this is undoubtedly the start of a major career for this young writer.

A story of curiosity and obsession, this is full of rich detail and is a book to get lost in.

The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock nails the 18th century as convincingly as Francis Spufford in Golden Hill, but with supernatural elements that bring to mind Susannah Clarke and Sarah Perry.

Behind the window trimmings of Gowar's epic romance lies an astute novel about class, race, and fate... An ambitious debut with enough romance, intrigue, and social climbing to fill a mermaid's grotto to the brim. (Starred Review)

Transport yourself with a sumptuous, mysterious story set in Georgian London.

From the first page of this dazzling debut novel, you are pitched into a sumptuously detailed adventure set in the bustle and swagger of 18th century London… The result is a wonderfully written and richly descriptive novel, its brilliantly drawn characters driven by heady and dangerous desires

This gripping debut is the tale of a widower whose ordinary life as a
merchant is disrupted when his beloved ship is exchanged for a fossilised
mermaid... Themes that might be more problematic to portray in a contemporary setting — of independence, love, class, death and gender stereotypes — are skilfully explored here through a late 18th-century lens.

A sumptuous, beautifully written, impressively researched debut.

Rich in delicious period detail and written with a wickedly observant eye, the path of this unlikely romance leads down some unexpected byways to give a fantastical and thoroughly enjoyable reading treat.

A gloriously assured debut, set in a beautifully drawn Georgian London... a story of obsession and destruction, hope and heart, which beguiles as much as the mermaid herself.

A brilliantly plotted story of mermaids, madames and intrigue in 1780s London

Immerse yourself in Georgian London... beautiful storytelling with a hint of magic.

Big, big things are predicted for this debut... Rich in detail and utterly charming, it’s the natural successor to The Essex Serpent and The Miniaturist.

Beautifully written, sinuous, enchanting, brilliantly researched, The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock goes deep into the eighteenth century -- its grand front rooms, the secret places, the streets and the ocean that changed everything about Britain -- and it lays bare the hearts of a cast of unforgettable characters.

What this escapade delivers above all is pure storytelling pleasure

A gloriously entertaining Georgian romp... As seductive as any siren's song, this remarkable, glittering Georgian tale has a heart of purest gold.

Gowar’s wonderful novel expertly captures that sense of a more fluid society, where boundaries are porous and the ambitious can both shimmy up fortune’s greasy pole and slide equally swiftly back
down.

Wonderful… completely transporting