Susann Cokal, our editorial director, has published a new young adult novel with Candlewick Press.

The concept: In the far northern reaches of civilization, a mermaid leaves the sea to look for her land-dwelling mother among people as desperate for magic and miracles as they are for life and love.

The book has garnered early praise:

Susann Cokal’s latest miracle, Mermaid Moon, springs from the tides where Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid once swam and walked to land. But she delivers something even more rich and strange, and a mermaid heroine who will swim away with your heart.

            —Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked

A well-developed matriarchal mermaid mythology in which women couple, bonded by love and respect, and men are largely unnecessary. Through several voices and richly detailed prose, these markedly different worlds overlap and diverge to impart a nuanced exploration of power, family, faith, and love.

                        —Publishers Weekly

Cokal’s moody and sea-drenched tale … language that gorgeously sets each scene, including the exceedingly creepy bone vault, with its tiny baby skulls and “the yellow-white ribs known as Mother.” Lyrical, complex, and occasionally dark, with rich rewards.

                        —School Library Journal 

Mermaid Moon is an action-packed tale of parental abandonment, familial longing, treachery and dark magic with an appealingly determined heroine.

                        —BookPage

Find out more at Susann’s website here, or on IndieBound or Amazon.