Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings. For today’s blog post, I am sharing my review of The Penguin Book of Mermaids edited by Cristina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown. This is one of those great Penguin collections of stories and historical accounts, this time about Mermaids!
This book includes many different folkloric accounts, historical accounts (like the Feejee Mermaid Hoax), and literary Mermaids. The book tracks Mermaid lore from ancient times through the ages. I love the way the book is set up, with the book broken into sections as you travel through the different ages of the Mermaids. Each story is given an introduction that provides context, which is always nice.
I really loved the sections on Selkies, as they are one of my favorite types of Mermaids! There is also a great section that is part of the novella Undine, and another that is the whole of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, both found in the literary Mermaids part of the book. However, I have to say, although I was delighted that Melusine was included in this book, also in the literary Mermaid section, I was a bit disappointed by the overly short and oversimplified retelling chosen. Melusine’s whole story is retold in less than three pages, after the introduction! I am glad the introduction stated that Jean d’Arras wrote the original version of her legend, but the retelling was far too short, as The Little Mermaid and several other folktales shared were longer. For as complex as Melusine’s legend is, with the Jean d’Arras original version being novel-length, this seems to be a bit of an oversight. That being said, I can easily forgive this because I have several books on Melusine, and I even gave this a five-star rating on Goodreads, as it is truly an awesome collection! I just wanted to be honest about the Melusine retelling being a bit lacking, as I am a Priestess of Melusine and do teach about her in my seven-month-long online class, the Melusine Mysteries.
I hope you have enjoyed reading my review of this book. Do you want to read The Penguin Book of the Mermaids? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the book cover. I found the picture on https://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Book-Mermaids-Cristina-Bacchilega/dp/0143133721.
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries
Further Reading
- The Penguin Book of Mermaids edited by Cristina Bacchilega and Marie Alohalani Brown
2 responses to “‘The Penguin Book of the Mermaids’ Review”
I’ll have to investigate this, because I’d never heard of the Penguin Book of Mermaids. I’m waiting for The Penguin Book of Penguins! I wonder if they included a great retelling in verse of Hans Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ by Wilfred Owen, of First World War poet fame. I had also never heard of either Jean d’Arras or Melusine, so I must definitely investigate that.
Oh, yes I would definitely recommend checking out the book! I do not know what translation of ‘The Little Mermaid’ they used, but there is a treasure trove of Mermaid lore in the book. If you are interested in Melusine, I have an entire section of blog posts devoted to her (it’s in the menu, under Melusine)! Thanks for reading and commenting!