Book Review -The Mermaid Chair

Borrows from the library

I seem to be on a reading frenzy right now. The last book I read never even got on my list. I went to the library on Saturday. They had been shut for a while as they were installing machines to check books in and out. Anyway, I picked up three books. The one I've just read - The Mermaid Chair (by Sue Monk Kidd) I started as soon as I returned from the library and I finished it this morning. This tale is lovely, funny and sad. Jessie returns home to the island where she was born in order to find out the cause of her mother's strange behaviour. Although she's felt she has a good marriage Jessie is seeking time alone for herself and this provides the opportunity. While there she meets Benedictine Monk Brother Thomas. The meeting stirs feelings in them both. They are each searching for something after dramatic past events. Have they found it in each other? They try to look to their future as their relationship deepens. Yet Jessie is still so haunted by the past - her father's death which she blames herself for. However, there is more to her father's death than she realises and as her mother's behaviour deteriorates it's time to find out what really happened, and for Jessie to find out who she is.

The story weaves myth and legend into this closely knit community with its backdrop of birds, marshes, net making and a slave cemetery. It is beautifully written, very evocative and you get a good sense of place. Sue Monk Kidd knows how to tell a story. I first came across her with the novel The Secret Life of Bees and followed that up with The Invention of Wings. Both books were moving and unputdownable, so I knew I'd be in for a good read here.

I'm off to start the next library book - The Chessmen (Peter May) which is the third and final part in the Lewis Trilogy.