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A modern-day expansion of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, this unforgettable debut novel weaves a spellbinding tale of magic and the power of love as a descendent of the original mermaid fights the terrible price of saving herself from a curse that has affected generations of women in her family.

Kathleen has always been dramatic. She suffers from the bizarre malady of experiencing stabbing pain in her feet. On her sixteenth birthday, she woke screaming from the sensation that her tongue had been cut out. No doctor can find a medical explanation for her pain, and even the most powerful drugs have proven useless. Only the touch of seawater can ease her pain, and just temporarily at that.Now Kathleen is a twenty-five-year-old opera student in Boston and shows immense promise as a soprano. Her girlfriend Harry, a mezzo in the same program, worries endlessly about Kathleen's phantom pain and obsession with the sea. Kathleen's mother and grandmother both committed suicide as young women, and Harry worries they suffered from the same symptoms. When Kathleen suffers yet another dangerous breakdown, Harry convinces Kathleen to visit her hometown in Ireland to learn more about her family history.In Ireland, they discover that the mystery--and the tragedy--of Kathleen's family history is far older and stranger than they could have imagined. Kathleen's fate seems sealed, and the only way out is a terrible choice between a mermaid's two sirens--the sea, and her lover. But both choices mean death...

Haunting and lyrical, The Mermaid's Daughter asks--how far we will go for those we love? And can the transformative power of music overcome a magic that has prevailed for generations?

Shannon McManus, award-winning narrator, is a Los Angeles-based actor, writer, and voice artist. Her natural vocal abilities and extensive theater training have led to work in audiobook narration, commercial voice-over, and animation. Critical praise includes an Audiofile Earphones Award and a Publishers Weekly Listen Up! Award in children's and young adult fiction.

Alana Kerr Collins is an Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator. She is also an actor, puppeteer, and singer who studied at the Impulse Company in London and earned a BA in drama and English at the University of Dublin, Trinity College. She starred in the short films Rachel 9000, The Deal, and Veritas and has appeared in several television series, including Emu and Big City Park.

Suzanne Crowley is a well-known miniature artist whose work has been featured on the covers of American and international magazines. Her debut novel, The Very Ordered Existence of Merilee Marvelous received three starred reviews, was an IRA Notable Children's Book, and was selected as the Book Sense #3 Top Children's Pick for Fall of 2007. Her second book, The Stolen One, is an Indie Next List Pick for Fall of 2009, and a Best Books for Young Adults nominee. Suzanne was born in a small town in west Texas and currently lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with her family.

Suzan Crowley, a British/American actress and producer and an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator. She has worked in repertory theater all over the British Isles and acted extensively on-screen as well, including roles in ITV's series PD James' Devices & Desires, the BBC series Back Up, and the feature film The Devil Inside. With her husband Anthony Armatrading, she produced the award-winning independent feature film Wild about Harry.

Ann Claycomb's fiction has been published in American Short Fiction, Zahir, Fiction Weekly, Brevity, Hot Metal Bridge, The Evansville Review, Title Goes Here, and other publications. She has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has an MFA in fiction from West Virginia University. This is her first novel.