The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock

Real life in Regency London...and a little bit of the supernatural
By sally tarbox on 14 February 2018
Format: Hardcover
An intelligent, utterly entertaining and beautifully written book, that immerses the reader in 18th century London.
In a gloomy counting house, lonely widower Jonah Hancock is awaiting the return of a long-absent ship. But when its captain comes to see him, with the information that he has 'invested' much of Hancock's money in a rare find - a mermaid - the sensible businessman has to turn showman to try to recoup some money.

How his endeavours bring him into contact with beautiful courtesan Angelica Neal ...and what happens then...forms an unforgettable story, which moves from high society to the bawdy-house.

I was struck show more by the author's descriptive powers:
"Owing to the rain it is unlikely that many birds are abroad; but perhaps a crow has just crept from the rafters of Mr Hancock's house, and now fans out its bombazine feathers and tips its head to one side to view the world with one pale and peevish eye. This crow, if it spreads its wings, will find them full of the still-damp breeze gusting up from the streets below: hot tar, river mud, the ammoniac reek of the tannery. And if it hops from its ledge and rises above the rooftops of Union Street it will come first and swiftly to the docks, the cradles of ships-to-be, which even in their infancy rear above all the buildings. Some, polished and tarred, flags a-flutter and figurehead winking, strain to be launched; others, mere ribs of fresh-stripped wood with only air between them, lie in dry-dock vast and pale, and naked as the skeletons of whales."

This is going to be one of my top reads for 2018. I suspect Imogen Hermes Gowar is a name to look out for! show less

This book is beautiful but rather bleak. I felt like I was in 1700s London. I knew and understood the characters. I would say they were realistic, but then I realize that they weren't. Even as the misanthropic introvert that I am, I realize that, realistically, there are more good people than are present in this novel. Realistically, people are more mixed and not so depraved as most of these characters. Realistically, there was at least some beauty and not only filth in 1700s London. The author here shines a spotlight on everything foul in the time and in the people, and only the main characters have good mixed with the bad. That's a choice she made for the purpose of her story, and it doesn't diminish the quality of the work, only my show more enjoyment of it. This book is not escapist or fun. It's haunting and sad. The story is heartfelt, meaningful, and affecting. The novel is carefully constructed, beautifully written, and insightful. I enjoyed this novel but not the world or most of the people it created. show less

This is a rather charming book about the power of desire, and what happens when people's desires are and are not fulfilled.

There are two main characters: Angelica, a sought-after high-class prostitute who is getting just old enough that she needs to be figuring out her next career move, and Mr. Hancock, an aging middle class merchant who misses his deceased wife and infant son. Mr. Hancock comes into possession of a taxidermized mermaid when he is at the brink of financial ruin, and he is determined to use it to earn his fortune. Angelica's on-again off-again madam rents the mermaid to display it as the centerpiece of a ribald party, where Mr. Hancock meets Angelica. He wants to see more of Angelica, but she jokingly tells him that the show more price to see her again is her own mermaid.

The book explores the desires of these two characters: Mr. Hancock wants money, largely so that he can take care of his sister and niece. He doesn't realize until he meets Angelica that he also wants female companionship and touch, although it takes him a while to understand this desire. Angelica thinks she wants money, but really what she wants is attention and adoration. The book explores how the characters strive to achieve their desires, and how they are disappointed when those desires don't satisfy them. The main object of everyone's desire is a mermaid, although the mermaid represents different things to different characters. Ultimately, the characters come to understand that they can find happiness in the simple pleasures of caring for another person.

This is an odd book in many ways... I was never certain where the story was going, and every time I thought I had it figured out, it took a new direction. Sometimes it felt like the plot wasn't holding together, although by the end I realized that was because I was paying attention to the wrong plotline.

The characters have a lot of depth and are lovable despite their foibles. They're the kind of people that are enjoyable to read about but you wouldn't actually want to spend any time with them. show less

‘’Somewhere a tide is turning. In that place where no land can be seen, where horizon to horizon is spanned by shifting twinkling faithless water, a wave humps it back and turns over with a sigh, and sends its salted whispering to Mr Hancock’s ear.’’

London, 1785. Swiftly, we are let in two very different worlds that are about to be united under extraordinary circumstances. Mr Hancock, a moderately wealthy merchant, has acquired a marvellous creature. Angelica Neal is an accomplished courtesan that has come to admire his new possession. And what may that be? Well, a mermaid! And now, they are thrown into a series of dubious choices, chances and hopes in the opulent city and the peaceful countryside.

‘’We fill their minds show more even when we are far away. They fancy they see us even when they do not. They tell one another stories about us.’’

Imogen Hermes Gowar creates a very special example of Historical Fiction. Beyond the magnificent depiction of 18th century London, beyond our vivid transportation to the world of the courtesans and the merchants, two professions that seem to look for wonders, taking every chance that comes their way, beyond the need for love, she connects the elusive legendary figure of the Mermaid to the ‘’icon’’ of the beautiful, desired women. Both are sought after, tirelessly wanted. Once someone is fortunate enough to ‘’possess’’ them - literally, mind you - they become creatures to be put in a cage for profit. The Mermaid brings money. The Woman brings earthly pleasure but must ‘’belong’’ to one man only. Even if he is a scoundrel and a liar.

‘’A loss is not a void.’’

Imogen Hermes Gowar populates her beautiful story with fascinating characters. Good and bad, most of them grey. Real, tangible, easy to identify in all societies. But the main duo is a true force. Angelica’s spirit seems to mirror Hancock’s calm and need for a life with meaning. Her unafraid attitude to stand for herself against men and women who want to exploit and diminish her reflects his decision to abandon his microcosm and see all anew. They both make mistakes - who doesn’t? - and learn from them under the ever-watchful eye of the Mermaid.

The element of Magical Realism is cleverly and uniquely used to advance the story, walking side-by-side with very human, very familiar emotions and obstacles. And this is how an extraordinary novel is born.

‘’I am here; I am here; you are not alone. Here I am; I am grief, the living child of your suffering. I am the grief that sits within you; I am the grief that sits between you.
You will bury me but I shall rise up.
You will not know me, but I shall make myself known to you.’’

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ show less

The real pleasure of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock is its prose, a bouncy pastiche of late 18th century writing which is lively and never over-mannered. But the book just goes on, and on, and I wish someone had taken Imogen Hermes Gowar by the hand and said that she needed to edit this down by at least a third and then restructure it once she had. There's real promise here, but it's too meandering by half.

Merchant Jonah Hancock has been long awaiting his overdue trading ship when one evening there is a surprise knock on the door. Standing there is his captain, who informs him that he has sold Hancock's ship in exchange for...a mermaid. (A dead mermaid, to be fair, but a mermaid nonetheless.) Initially dismayed and horrified at the loss of capital, Hancock slowly begins to imagine the ways in which the acquisition of such a curiosity could well make his fortune.

This novel was quite different from what I was expecting — not necessarily in a negative way, and in fact it's possible that it gets extra kudos for keeping me guessing during its surprising turns. Hancock himself is not a particularly sympathetic character. He's kind of show more wishy-washy and unexceptional, qualities generally unexpected in a protagonist, which could be why it was noticeable. The story pivoted to a somewhat darker place about 80% through, though the added creepiness was not unwelcome. The book is well-written, and Gowar's writing is polished and engaging. It also has a gorgeous cover and endpapers, but more than anything what I was dying to see was what the "mermaids" actually looked like! My imagination was simply not enough. show less

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock - Gower
Audio performance by Juliet Stevenson
4 stars

“For mermaids are the most unnatural of creatures and their hearts are empty of love.”

This book is set in late 18th century England. It begins when shipowner, Jonah Hancock, is informed that his long overdue vessel has been sold in exchange for the corpse of an apparent mermaid. Mr. Hancock is a lonely, childless widower. He is a conservative merchant and a moral man. The arrival of the mermaid will change everything. The first surprising change is that he is able to turn a profit by displaying it as a ‘curiosity’. His mermaid attracts a great deal of attention. When he rents his specimen to the abbess of a high class brothel, he meets the show more desirable Angelica Neal. The narrative alternates between Mr. Hancock and Angelica Neal. There are several subplots concerned with Sukey, Mr. Hancocks niece; Polly, a mulatto prostitute; and other ‘mercantile’ female characters. As Jonah Hancock bumbles along with his business and his misguided desire for Angelica, it’s really the woman who are the focus of this novel.

Although the writing style is different, this book reminded me of Faber’s The Crimson Petal and the White. They are similar in time and place. The characters share the same talent for self deception. The mermaids of this story add a touch of magical realism that creates a gothic atmosphere, although it was a bit heavy handed as a metaphor. Most of these characters struggle daily with survival; the genuine fear of destitution. They are also burdened with serious philosophical dilemmas. Who is better off, the well kept courtesan, or the legally bound wife? How is a whore different from a slave? How is a wife different from a mistress? How does lust differ from love? Despite recurring comic situations and the sly, sardonic comments of several characters, I thought the mood of the whole book was somber.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. The writing is evocative of the time and place, to the point of being overly descriptive. I enjoyed the complex and often troubled characters, but the story moved very slowly. At times it was difficult to maintain interest until something important happened. Having finished the book, I find myself still thinking about it. What exactly do those mermaids represent? There was either deliberate ambiguity in the storytelling, or I missed something along the way. So, although I have some reservations, I do like a book that gives me something to chew on after the last page.

This is a debut novel. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed The Crimson Petal and the White or The Essex Serpent. Be warned that given the focus on prostitution, some scenes are graphically raunchy. Juliet Stevenson gave her usual 5 star performance. show less