Book Title: When The Mermaid Sings
Series: The Sea Witch Voyages
Author: Helen Hollick
Publication Date: 21st June 2021
Publisher: Taw River Press
Page Length: 190 Pages
Genre: Historical/Nautical Fantasy
When The Mermaid Sings
(A prequel story to The Sea Witch Voyages)
By Helen Hollick
A prequel short read story to the Sea Witch Voyages of Captain Jesamiah Acorne
When the only choice is to run, where do you run to?
When the only sound is the song of the sea, do you listen?
Or do you drown in the embrace of a mermaid?
Throughout childhood, Jesamiah Mereno has suffered the bullying of his elder half-brother. Then, not quite fifteen years old, and on the day they bury their father, Jesamiah hits back. In consequence, he flees his Virginia home, changes his name to Jesamiah Acorne, and joins the crew of his father’s seafaring friend, Captain Malachias Taylor, aboard the privateer, Mermaid.
He makes enemies, sees the ghost of his father, wonders who is the Cornish girl he hears in his mind – and tries to avoid the beguiling lure of a sensuous mermaid...
An early coming-of-age tale of the young Jesamiah Acorne, set in the years before he be-comes a pirate and Captain of the Sea Witch.
Praise:
“Ms Hollick has skillfully picked up the threads that she alludes to in the main books and knitted them together to create a Jesamiah that we really didn't know.” Richard Tearle sen-ior reviewer, Discovering Diamonds
“Captain Jesamiah Acorne is as charming a scoundrel as a fictional pirate should be. A re-sourceful competitor to Captain Jack Sparrow!” Antoine Vanner author
“Helen Hollick has given us the answer to that intriguing question that Jesamiah fans have been aching for – how did he start his sea-going career as a pirate?” Alison Morton, author
“I really enjoyed the insight offered into Jesamiah's backstory, and found the depiction of our teenage hero very moving.” Anna Belfrage, author
“I loved this little addendum to the Jesamiah series. I always had a soft spot for the Lorelei stories and enjoyed that the author cleverly brought her over from the Rhine valley to fit into the story.” Amazon Reviewer
Trigger Warnings: Sexual content, adult language.
A brief bit about the Sea Witch Voyages:
I wrote the first Voyage (Sea Witch) back in 2005 after thoroughly enjoying the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Like most avid readers, however, I wanted more than just the movie, I wanted to read something that was as entertaining and as exciting. A nautical adventure with a charming rogue of a pirate captain, written for adults (with adult content) but with a dash of supernatural fantasy as well – elements of which had made that first movie such fun to watch. I found many nautical-based novels, but they were all ‘serious stuff’ – Patrick O’Brian, Alexander Kent, C. S. Forrester ... all good reads but without the fantasy fun, and barely a female character in sight. I simply could not find the book I wanted to read. So, I wrote my own.
The first Voyage led to more books in the series, and also generated several emails from fans who wanted to know how Jesamiah had become a pirate in the first place.
When the Mermaid Sings answers that question.
* * *
Cornwall, England 1710
Tiola heard her father shouting her name but ignored him. She would receive a whipping for not attending evening church, but there were more important things for her to be about this day. The young man needed her attention, for his ship, his life, was in danger. God would understand. Although her father would not.
Mama had said that the child was ill, was to remain abed, but Papa had gainsaid her, slammed into her room and demanded she rise and dress herself.
Tiola had looked at him, blank, pale-faced, unblinking.
~ Go away! ~ The words had been in her mind, not spoken aloud, but still he had turned around and gone away.
How did I do that? she wondered, but noted the doing as the door closed and his footsteps sounded on the wooden stairs as he descended.
He shouted again from the parlour, then she heard the front door of the house open and the bustle of them all leaving. The crunch of their feet on the gravel path outside. The house settled into silence, only Tompkin, the black and white cat, curled at the bottom of her bed purred in contentment.
Tiola smiled, returned her attention to the painting of the ship that hung on her wall. It was a brig under full sail, churning her way through a choppy sea, with scudding clouds racing across a blue, blue sky above her. But Tiola did not see the waves. Or the clouds or the sky, all she saw was a storm lashing rain and a wind howling its temper, and the black-haired young man struggling to stay alive.
“Keep safe,” she muttered, then sent the words to him through her mind.
~ Keep safe! ~
How I met Jesamiah Acorne (the tru-ish) story:
https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/p/how-i-met-jesamiah-acorne.html
Buy Links:
Available on #KindleUnlimited.
Amazon UK: Amazon US: Amazon CA: Amazon AU:
Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Tales and Life of A Smuggler. She lives in an eighteenth-century farmhouse in North Devon, runs Discovering Diamonds, a review blog for historical fiction, and occasionally gets time to write...
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Thank you so much for hosting the blog tour for When The Mermaid Sings.
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Mary Anne
The Coffee Pot Book Club
Thank you so much Judith for hosting such a wonderfully welcoming Port Of Call today!
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