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Overview
Years ago, the fierce and beautiful Grace stole away from the island with her small daughter, Gráinne, unable to bear its isolation. Now Gráinne, is motherless at fifteen, and a grandmother she has never met has come to take her back. Her heart is pulled between a life in which she no longer belongs and a family she cannot remember. But only on Inis Muruch can she begin to understand the forces that have torn her family apart.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780380815593 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 11/06/2001 |
| Series: | Harper Perennial |
| Edition description: | Reprint |
| Pages: | 288 |
| Sales rank: | 1,013,102 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.65(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Mermaids Singing
Chapter One
Grace
It is only at night now that she has the strength to wander. Rising quietly, so as not to disturb her lover, Grace pulls a sweater over her pajamas, slips her feet into running sneakers. Stephen had bought her the sneakers to wear in the hospital after she refused to put on the regulation blue foam slippers. She is not a runner but she likes the height of them, the curve of the soles which roll her forward like a boat lifted by waves. She wraps a scarf around her gruesome bald head.
She passes through the cottage quickly, without looking at the tacky furniture -- leftovers from someone else's life. Stephen had rented this place so Grace could be near the sea. Sometimes she calls it "the hospice," in an attempt to be the blunt, witty sort of dying person she would like to be.
She goes first to the water, down the damp sand and over to the barnacle rocks, which she climbs gingerly, still surprised by the weakness of her limbs. She wants to stand on the rocks, dive into the cold water and swim the pain away, but she can only sit, watching the moonshine catch the waves, feeling the salty damp seep into her clothing and skin, breathing it; it is thick and familiar in her damaged lungs.
The sea does not speak to her in the daytime. When Stephen manages to coerce her into a walk, the sunlight, harsh on her yellowed skin, distracts her. The beach feels dangerous with Stephen, because of the way he clings to her elbow, guiding her over shells and rocks, assuring that the foamy tide does not wash against her fragile ankles. On these walks she feels like a captive, like a creature held just out of reach of herwatery home. She wants to shake him off, as passionately as she used to want to creep into his body because his hands on her skin were not enough. She hides the impulse to push him away, tells herself it is the cancer that makes her feel this repulsion. Though it is not the first time she has felt like a prisoner.
On the nights she escapes, the sea becomes hers again; the rhythm of the waves aligns itself with the thrust and ebb of her heart. She looks over the silver water and imagines another beach across the Atlantic, an Irish shore, the landscape a mirror reflection of this one. There, the wind in the coves was a chorus of the island mermaids, who moaned with the hopes of capturing a sympathetic man. She used to swim there, that moan in her blood, longing to leave. Now, though she has been gone from Ireland for twelve years, it is appearing to her, dropping in heavy folds, swallowing her present life. She thinks how odd it is, that the strongest convictions, like possessions, can lose all meaning when you are dying. Everything that she thought she was about has slipped from her, and the things she never wanted are clinging to her memory like the seaweed in the crevices at her feet.
Her mind is a collage of faces. She sees her mother, whose early wrinkles looked like crevices in rock, whose mouth was constantly clamped in a stern line, who always fought to keep her face expressionless. Grace hated that blank face, she raged to get it to register something -- even anger -- anything. Now she misses her mother, longs for her like a lonely child. But she escaped from that face and it's too late now, she believes, to ask for it back.
Another face her husband's, an Irish man. Though she has spent several years trying to erase him from her memory, his features come back to her in perfect detail; he glows like a stubborn ghost when she closes her eyes. She wonders why she ever left, why she can't remember what went wrong between them. He was kind, she knows. Had that not been enough? It means more to her now, kindness.
When she feels her body crawling toward sleep, far too soon, she goes back to the cottage, slips into its silence. She opens a bedroom door, checks on her daughter -- a teenager who sleeps like a child, her limbs sprawled, mouth gaping, the sheets twisted like vines around her ankles. The glinting black curls on the pillow are her father's. At one time, Grace might have righted the bedding, smoothed the masses of hair away from her daughter's face. But tonight she only stands there, afraid of waking her. They avoid each other now, these two, as intensely as they once clung together.
She closes the door, walks across the dark living room. At a table in the corner she sits, switching on a miniature desk lamp. There is an old typewriter here, a stack of crisp white paper beside it. She winds a sheet through, and types out a note, flinching at the sound of keys, like gunshots in the night.
Gráinne, she types.
Please pick up cereal and matches if you pass by the G. S. today. If you have any clothes that need washing -- and you must by now, kiddo, unless you plan to keep wearing those stinking jeans -- give them to Stephen, he's going to the laundromat.--Love, Mom
She props the note on the refrigerator with a lobster-shaped magnet. She doesn't know why she continues to compose these strange communications, why she cannot say anything she really feels. She wants to ask her daughter if she's all right, wants to know what she does all day and half the night when she's away from the cottage. But Grace has lost the ability to ask anything. Once, she had prided herself on speaking bluntly, honestly to her daughter. Only recently has she admitted that she's been lying all along. She lied by never telling . . .
The Mermaids Singing. Copyright © by Lisa Carey. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.What People are Saying About This
Lisa Carey's extraordinary first novel has it all - Ireland, myth, romance, sex appeal, and three generations of quirky, powerful and passionate women whose appitite for life is equal only by their ability to russle dignity from extreme and even tragic situations. It's a novel about love and loss, about a girl in search of both a mother and father, about finding the things you love after a long journey in a foreign land. Carey is an immensely gifted writer...There's a bit of Irish lilt in every sentence, but her sensibility is American through and through. And the last line of the novel is as resonant and heart-rendering a line as I've read in years."
What a rich story this is - part contemporary novel, dealing skillfully with the relationship of mother and daughter; part fairy tale, with its gorgeous myth; and part allegory, with a lesson about forgiveness of others as well as ourselves. What I learned is that perhaps it doesn't matter so much when you let certain people back into your heart; it only matters that you do. Tonight I will set an extra plate at my table in honor of Lisa Carey and the private pleasures she has given me in reading this very moving book.
Reading Group Guide
About this Guide
The questions, author biography, and reading list that follow are intended to enhance your group's discussion of Lisa Carey's THE MERMAIDS SINGING. We hope they provide you with fresh ways of looking at this extraordinary novel.
About this Book
Somewhere off the west coast of Ireland lies Inis Murúch-the Island of the Mermaids-a world where myth is more powerful that truth and where the sea sings with the healing and haunting voices of women. It is here that Lisa Carey sets her lyrical first novel, weaving together the voices and lives of three generations of Irish and Irish-American women.
Years ago, Clíona-strong, proud, and practical-sailed for Boston, determined to one day come home. But when the time came to return to Inis Murúch, her daughter Grace-fierce, beautiful, and brazenly sexual-resented her mother's isolated, unfamiliar world. Though entranced by the sea and its healing powers, Grace became desperate to escape the confines of the island, one day stealing away with her small daughter Graínne.
Now Graínne-motherless at fifteen after Grace's death-is about to be taken back across the ocean by Clíona, repeating the journey her mother was forced to make years before. She goes to meet a father she has never known, her heart pulled between a life where she no longer belongs and a family she cannot remember. On the rocky shore of Inis Murúch, she waits for her father and begins to discover her own sexual identity even as she struggles to understand the forces that have torn her family apart.
Praise for this Book
"What a rich story this is-part contemporary novel, dealingskillfully with the relationship of mother and daughter; part fairy tale, with its gorgeous myth; and part allegory, with a lesson about forgiveness of others as well as ourselves." -Elizabeth Berg
"Lisa Carey's extraordinary first novel has it all-Ireland, myth, romance, sex appeal, and three generations of quirky, powerful, and passionate women . . . Carey is an immensely gifted writer." -Douglas Glover
"In a sensual story of first loves, fatal decisions and alienation, Carey skillfully infuses her heroines with individual generational traits while lending them the same dreams-of mermaids and the ancient pirate queen after whom both daughters are named . . . an absorbing story." -Publishers Weekly
Questions for Discussion
1. The names Clíona, Grace, and Graínne are unique and meaningful. To what extent are each of their names appropriate for them? What role does naming play, and how do Clíona and Grace's choices for their daughters reflect their roles at mothers? What does Graínne mean when she refers to her name saying, "It should have been my mother's name, not mine." (p. 161)? What keeps her from accepting her name, and why does she choose to give her mother's name as her own on page 32?
2. When Grace is told the myth at the heart of her mother's name, she says it suits Clíona perfectly because her life was also one of "pitiful and unimaginative subjection to others" (p. 7). But when Graínne hears the same myth years later, her reaction (p. 249) is much different. What does this tell us about Graínne, and what does it promise for her relationship with her grandmother?
3. The search for a place to call home is a powerful element of this novel. Discuss how growing up in the Willoughby home may have affected Grace. Does Graínne, too, lack a home? Do you think she's able to find one at the end of the novel?
4. The island of Inis Murúch is a character in its own right. What is the significance of an island setting, and how does this backdrop affect each character differently?
5. Soon after her mother's death, Graínne stops eating. Why does not eating become so important to her, and how does her slow self-starvation relate to her mother's illness?
6. Graínne is first introduced to the Catholic mass by her grandmother, and she takes a particular interest in the miracle of transubstantiation, the process by which bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. She recalls the intonation, "This is my body, it will be given up for you" on page 109, and thinks immediately of Stephen. Why?
7. Repetition is another important element in this novel. Graínne repeats Grace's journey to Inis Murúch with Clíona, for instance. What other repetitions are there? Do you think these characters are fated to repeat each other's journeys?
8. When Graínne asks her mother about her background, Grace answers, "You're whatever you want to be. It's not important where you come from. What matters is where you take yourself" (pp. 52-53). Do you think Grace believes this statement wholeheartedly? Is it true for these women?
9. The action of the novel unfolds in a non-linear form, with past and present flowing freely. What does this contribute to the story? How would a more straightforward handling of the sequence of events have altered the reading experience?
10. The image of mermaids is one of the most prevalent in the novel. Grace, in particular, is strongly associated with them. What makes her most mermaid-like and what does the connection reveal about her? Where else does mermaid imagery appear?
11. When Graínne first learns that her grandmother is alive, she isn't willing to accept the truth, claiming, "My mother tells me everything" (p. 12). How does the revelation of Grace's secrets change Graínne's perception of her mother? How do the secrets each woman kept affect her relationship with her daughter? How would their lives have turned out differently if there had been no secrets between them?
12. More than one character literally drowns in THE MERMAIDS SINGING and others feel that they are drowning metaphorically. Why is this such an important theme, and what meaning does it hold for each character?
13. When Seamus tries to embrace her, Grace tells him, "You're holding me too tight" (p. 191). In what ways is the feeling of being trapped important to these characters? Ultimately, Seamus decides to set Grace free, losing his daughter in the process. Do you think Seamus's decision not to pursue his wife and child is a courageous and selfless decision, or a cowardly one?
14. On page 171, Eamon tells Grace, "The O'Flaherty's have got the mermaids on their side, in the odd case God isn't watching." What's the significance of this statement? Do you agree with him?
About the Author
LISA CAREY received a B.A. in English and Philosophy from Boston College and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Vermont College. Her only job worth mentioning was at the independent bookstore Brookline Booksmith, where she remains a loyal customer. She divides her time between New England and Ireland. THE MERMAIDS SINGING is her first novel.
Interviews
On Friday, June 5th, barnesandnoble.com welcomed Lisa Carey to discuss THE MERMAIDS SINGING.
Moderator: Welcome, Lisa Carey! Thank you for joining us online this evening. How is everything in Boston?
Lisa Carey: Boston is great. I have only been here for 24 hours and am about to leave soon. My parents are having a party for the publication of my book, and I am expecting 200 people.
Peter from New York: Was there sexual tension between Grinne and Stephen, or was I misreading all that? If so, what made you decide to go in that direction with the characters...or not go any further?
Lisa Carey: Well, there was a sexual tension between them. I think that I decided to do this because I needed something for Grinne to focus on while she was avoiding the issue of her mother, and her mother's sexuality was always something she admired. I decided to have her have a crush on Stephen because it related to her mother. From Stephens point of view, he was younger than her and slightly attracted but slightly horrified because she was so young. I didn't take it any further because she went off to Ireland and he wasn't there, and I thought it was better to leave it unresolved rather than sort of fix it.
Tara from Philadelphia: I love the Yeats poem you have at the beginning of the book. I'm curious as to what made you include it.
Lisa Carey: Yeats has always been my favorite poet, and there are two reasons I put it in. One, it always made me think of my grandmother -- who I dedicated the book to. Two, when I was looking through things I had up as possibilities for being put at the beginning of the book, that poem said a lot about the relationship between Grace and Grinne and even Grinne and her grandmother.
Marnie Lanke from Houston: How long did it take for you to write this? There are so many different parts woven together. Did it start out as any one piece of the whole, or did you always have the entire idea in your mind?
Lisa Carey: It started out as a short story, a short story about a 15-year-old girl whose mother was dying of cancer, and they were writing notes back and forth with each other.... I was in an MFA program and I had done three semesters of short stories, and my goal had always been to write a novel before I finished the program and I wanted to go to Ireland. I basically went to Ireland with that short story because it was the only one I thought I needed to write more about. I spent four months thinking about my novel but not writing it. By the end, I decided to have three different women. When I started writing, I wrote the rough draft in about four months and then I did the rewrite, so the whole process took about a year.
Bryan Sullivan from Aurora, CO: I recently read your book and I was very impressed. I am curious if you'd care to say a word about the current state of political affairs in Ireland and England.
Lisa Carey: Thank you for reading it and being impressed. Because I am a writer and not up on most political situations other than Ireland (which I have studied), I had originally wanted to address the issues of Northern Ireland in my book. Then I decided that it was such a complicated issue. I am very happy that they passed the very recent referendum, which had to be voted in the Republic of Ireland as well as Northern Ireland, and I think they are getting closer to a compromise than they have ever gotten in the problems between England and Ireland. I think because it has been in the news a lot lately, many people see things from one point of view, and it is actually a lot more complicated than that. To say one side is right and the other wrong is not looking at the whole picture. What they are doing now is making everybody compromise. There has been 30 years of bloodshed because they wouldn't give an inch, so I am hopeful.
James from Akron, OH: What a fantastic cover! How much influence did you get in the design of the final book cover? Or did they not give you much say because you are a first-time novelist?
Lisa Carey: They asked for my input, and they came up with six different designs of the cover and chose the one they liked best. They took my suggestion, but they didn't use it; they compromised and used some images from the painting that I wanted. They gave me more input than I heard most authors have.
Danika Byrne from New York: How did you "get inside" the minds of your characters in such a believable way?
Lisa Carey: That is hard for me to answer, because I am glad and flattered that you think it is a believable way, but when I was writing it I wasn't sure. When people ask me how I write about people older than me and people who I don't know much about, the answer is by reading a lot. When you read a lot, you develop an ability to make readers like and believe your characters. During the writing process of the book, I didn't do anything but write this book, 12 hours a day. I was living the lives of my characters, and it was better than if I were to just write two hours a day.
Ilona from Miami: Your book made me so emotional. I just wondered if there was any one experience or person in your life that inspired this story.
Lisa Carey: No, there wasn't one person or experience. It is a fictional story, so it isn't based on any people or events in my life, but the sum of my personal experiences added to the book. I was living in Ireland as a foreigner and trying to go through everyday life there and settle in, and I fell in love with the country and felt in touch many times, yet felt out of place many times as well. That is one of the themes of the book -- moving around and settling in. And that influenced me.
Jayanth from India: How did you work out the seemingly complex narrative, which involves three main characters?
Lisa Carey: First I can say that I decided to write the book from three different points of view because I had never written a novel before and I thought I might not have enough to say from one voice. Once I settled on the three voices I wrote it from the beginning to the end. I would write a chapter from one point of view, stop switch my view and write from another point of view. By doing this I was able to get all three characters reacting to the same themes and situations.
Aileen from San Francisco, CA: Would you say Ireland -- the land and history -- was your primary influence behind this book?
Lisa Carey: Yes.
Larry Weissman from New York, NY: Lisa, I loved your novel. I've read that you spent a lot of time living on islands. Can you tell me what attracts you to island life?
Lisa Carey: I've always been attracted to island life because in some way they are like miniature countries, in that you can go to them and learn about a culture and a way of speaking that they won't have on the mainland. They are also limited in their resources. I think that islands don't have the distractions of city life and small-town life. Without the distractions of everyday life, I have a better environment for me to write in. If you'd like to know more about my experience with island life, you can read an essay that I wrote, on the literary magazine Bold Type (www.boldtype.com).
Jossie from NYC: If you knew what you know now back before you got published, what would you have done differently on the road to getting published? Any pearls of wisdom you could drop to an aspiring author?
Lisa Carey: I think that having an agent was the best thing that ever happened to me, so badger all of your author friends for their agents numbers. The experience of publishing a book is a lot different than what I thought. It is also a lot more work than I thought. It has been almost a full-time job since I wrote the book. My advice would be to write five books before you get anything publishing. Also, the MFA program I did was great. It definitely helps your writing and will give you contacts for when you want to get published.
Catherine Wiley from Lancaster, PA: How much time have you spent in Ireland?
Lisa Carey: I have spent about four months of every one of the past four years living in Ireland. And I am about to go back in July.
Paul from Pac87@aol.com: Good evening, Ms. Carey. Were you worried or nervous when you decided to quit your job to go to Ireland to start this book?
Lisa Carey: Yes! I was quite nervous. What I actually did was, I took a leave of absence from my job, and I sort of put myself out on a limb to write this book. I was working in a bookstore and was not making too much money, and for my MFA program I had a bunch of loans. I then took out more loan money to finance my trip to Ireland, and I was hoping I would eventually get published and make the money back. But when you are an artist you have to take risks, because otherwise you will never do it.
Jayanth from India: Do you make elaborate notes of people around you? How do you shape your characters?
Lisa Carey: I do make elaborate notes of people around me, specifically in Ireland. I wrote down anything that anybody said that I thought sounded interesting, because I wanted to write from an Irish voice. My characters usually start from a very small idea that either comes from an actual person or a story I have heard or my imagination, then once I start writing them, they become who they are. I don't know who they are when they begin. Sometimes they surprise me in what they end up doing.
Nicole from Sudbury, MA: If you had to do it over again, do you think an MFA is a necessity to becoming a great published author?
Lisa Carey: I don't think it is a necessity for everyone, but it was the best thing for me. I don't think I would change anything -- things have been going pretty well for me. Writing is a very difficult thing to commit yourself to. Most people think of it as a hobby, and it doesn't normally help to pay the bills. I am not a self-disciplined person, and I needed the structure of school to be able to challenge myself. But that is not the same for everyone.
Pam from Kent, Connecticut: Any advice for young writers?
Lisa Carey: My ultimate advice for young writers is to read. I spent more time reading novels than I do writing fiction. Most people, when asked this question, would tell me to write everyday. I am the exception. I don't have stuff to write about every day, so I don't write everyday, and I won't give those pearls of wisdom that I was always told. But for some it does work. You should always challenge yourself by writing about the kind of thing you thought you would never write about. A lot of people say you should write what you know, which is true, but you should also write about things you think you don't know about. This helps you form a better detail to your writing. It makes you a better writer, writing from the point of view of someone you don't completely understand.
Andrea Giery from San Francisco: I loved your book so much. I've told everyone I know about it. Are you working on another novel?
Lisa Carey: Thank you for supporting my book. I was working on another novel, which I put on hold for my book tour. When I write I have to have no distractions, so hopefully soon I will be able to get back to the book. I am superstitious, so I don't tell people what it is about, but it does have a bit of Ireland in it, a little hint....
Moderator: Thank you once again for joining us tonight, Lisa Carey, and congratulations on your debut! Before you go, do you have any last words for your online audience?
Lisa Carey: First I would like to thank everybody for taking the time to write in. It has been a very flattering hour, because I am talking to so many people I don't know who have read my book. The reason writers want to get published is so other people will read them. The reason I decided to become a writer is so I could touch people's lives in the way books have touched mine, and it makes me happy to see that I am doing it a little bit. The only other thing I would like to mention is that, in addition to Bold Type, I would suggest the Bard page online (www.avonbooks.com/bard), and then there is a bookstore in Galway, which is where I used to live, which is the best Irish bookstore in the world. Desmond Kenny, the owner, will talk to you, and if you are interested in Irish fiction and nonfiction, he will put together packages for you. They are books that you can't get outside of Ireland. I have received a new package from Desmond every month now. He is online at queries@www.kennys.ie.