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11:01 pm - Ingo, Helen Dunmore

Book number two of the day, and another hit. I'd not heard anything of Helen Dunmore (that had stuck, at least) until C. said he was going to be reviewing The Tide Knot. As these things often happen, shortly after that Michele mentioned on Scholar's Blog that she couldn't wait to read it, as Ingo had been so fantastic.

Ingo is set in Cornwall, or I suppose, in and off the coast of Cornwall, and uses a local legend as part of its selkie tale with a twist. (Just discovered the town and legend were real now, as I was far too involved in the book to stop reading and check. One version of the Mermaid of Zennor here, and there's even a picture of the mermaid in Zennor church here, if anyone cares to see.) Shortly after the book opens, Sapphire and Conor's father (who shares the name of the local lured away forever by the Zennor mermaid) disappears, and is presumed dead when his boat is found wrecked, though neither Conor nor Sapphire believe it's true. A year, a month and a day later, Conor leaves the house without telling Saph where he's going, and she finally finds him in their cove by himself, talking to a girl. But he denies it, and clearly has lost track of time - not realising he's been there for seven hours. The next time he disappears, Sapphire goes looking for him and is met by a boy- who also looks as if he's wearing a wetsuit, but is, of course, one of the Mer. He takes her into Ingo with him - but to go there, she must not only stop trying to breathe, but must also forget Air, as she largely does. Except for Conor, who she finds, has been to Ingo before, and whom she can't and won't forget. It won't likely surprise anyone to find that time runs very differently in Ingo, and it is Sapphire who is most at risk of staying there forever. Ingo is beautifully written as well as gripping, and the sections in Ingo strongly convey the pull to it that Sapphire feels, even when she comes to see she needs to resist it. This is certainly not a book with a simple Good-Evil dualism, and the grievance of the Mer (at least as presented by Faro, the boy Sapphire meets), is not an insignificant one.

The non-supernatural part of the book could be rather unoriginal, as Sapphire struggles with resentment when her mother first must get a waitressing job to support the family and especially when she brings home someone she meets in the restaurant, in the area for some rather secret diving exploration. There's also the requisite touch of sibling rivalry, despite Conor's and Sapphire's closeness - and the nasty rumours about their father's having run off on them, rather than being lost at sea. There's a lovely wise-woman/witch, Granny Carne, with her bees and her owl's eyes - her Earth Magic. And to top off all these good things, there's even a wonderful Golden Labrador pup, who's both 100% dog and part of the counterpointing pull of the Earth Magic.

I'm quite sorry now that the review copy of The Tide Knot never turned up. I didn't read the teaser at the end of Ingo, but definitely want to read it.