Elijah’s Mermaid is the second novel by British author Essie Fox, and follows her debut, The Somnambulist. As with the author’s first novel, Elijah’s Mermaid serves up a great slice of Victoriana to its readers.
The first part of the book begins in 1850, with a delightfully Victorian-esque chapter title, and proceeds to tell the reader of the stranger who rescued a baby after her mother had drowned herself in the River Thames. The narrative voice used is that of this baby, Pearl – ‘the bastard child saved by the river by Tip that night when my mother drowned herself for shame’ – who was brought up in a brothel by the rather whimsical name of The House of Mermaids. This was a ‘most prestigious Chelsea abode’, where the owner of the house, Mrs Hibbert, indulged the ‘every whim of those men wishing to use the brothel’s services’. Pearl’s narrative voice is intriguing from the outset, and feels rich in both detail and atmosphere.
The second chapter of the novel then focuses upon twins, Lily and Elijah, who are adopted from Coram’s Foundling Hospital in 1855 by their paternal grandfather, an author named Augustus Lamb. They are taken to live in Herefordshire and are bathed with Augustus’ fanciful tales of make-believe. Lily adores her brother but feels she is shadowed by his ever-present beauty.
The chapters which focus upon the twins are told from Lily’s own retrospective narrative voice, and from hereon in Lily and Pearl’s narrative voices alternate for the remainder of the novel. A sharp contrast exists between these narrative perspectives – Lily’s is full of childish wonder and Pearl’s is often vulgar – and the juxtaposition of both voices is startling at times. Lily occasionally addresses the reader with questions in order to draw the audience into her story, but this technique does not work well enough to build up much empathy on her behalf.
The idea of the mermaid is intrinsically linked to the novel from the outset, when Mrs Hibbert tells Pearl ‘you were sent to us by the mermaids’. Lily and Elijah, who spend their days ‘searching for Treasures and Magic Things’, are inspired by Charles Kingsley’s The Water-Babies, and develop a ‘mermaid obsession’ at a young age. Whilst the stories of Pearl and the twins are unconnected at first, they soon encounter one another through a mutual acquaintance in the guise of a revered painter named Osborne Black. The way in which the stories are entwined works well, although it does take rather a while to reach the point of their meeting.
Fox’s descriptions are wonderfully written and feel rather original in their scope: ‘the winter air is a cool damp gauze’ and ‘the slip-slopping song of the Thames’ are among the strongest. The novel is stylistically strong for the most part, particularly with regard to the authentic sounding Victorian voice which Fox manages to capture so well in her letters. Fox does encompass many rife Victorian social problems in Elijah’s Mermaid, ranging from debauchery, orphans, the workhouse and the fear of institutions to madness, myths and freakshows.
Several of the phrases used, however, do jolt the novel from its Victorian setting, as they would not have been used during the period – when Lily ‘butted in’ to a conversation, for example. Despite Fox’s wonderful writing, the sentence structure often seems a little long and overcomplicated, and the reader does end up feeling drenched with far too many retainable details. Elijah’s Mermaid does seem a little too drawn out at times and the pace slows rather quickly, particularly when conversations between various characters ensue. Another downside to the novel is that we as readers do not really see Elijah’s point of view – instead, we see what Lily, and later Pearl, think of him. As a result it is easy to feel distanced from the characters, and to not be particularly sympathetic towards any of them.
The appendices feature a list of the real historical figures and settings which influenced the book, as well as information pertaining to the themes of the novel. Fox has also included a list of Victorian slang words – a useful tool, but one which would perhaps have worked better if it had been placed before the story began, rather than tucked away at its end.
Whilst the novel is an interesting amalgamation of Gothic and Victoriana, the twist which Fox has used does not come as a complete surprise. Elijah’s Mermaid is interesting enough, particularly with regard to the many Victorian themes which have been woven throughout, but there are elements of it – the lack of empathy with or feeling towards any of the characters, the few modern phrases and the lack of consistency with regard to the story’s pace, for example – which do not quite work as well as they could have done.
