A Year of Reading: Stormswept by Helen Dunmore - reviewed by Katherine Roberts

My May offering is a children's title aimed at readers aged 9+ (or 'middle grade' as it is known in the US). As a fantasy title aimed at younger readers, this one is much closer to my own territory than the books I've reviewed so far this year. But the gorgeous cover complete with golden highlights on the paperback edition caught my adult eye, while the mermaid-themed plot subtly blends fantasy with our real world, making it accessible to readers who might struggle with completely fantasy worlds.

Stormswept by Helen Dunmore

The island off the coast of Cornwall where our heroine Morveren lives is connected at low tide to the mainland, where she and her twin sister Jenna and their younger brother Digory attend a normal school - no lessons in wizardry or riding broomsticks here! The fantasy happens on their island in a quiet, understated way, when they find a strange boy called Malin injured on the beach after a storm and try to help him. This is complicated because, instead of legs, Malin has a fish tail. Strictly he's a merboy, not a mermaid, but of course if such creatures exist (and who is to say they don't?) there are probably both.

It turns out that Malin comes from an underwater fantasy world called 'Ingo', which exists somewhere beneath our oceans. The science of this is never explained, which merely adds to the magical atmosphere. Certain people with mer-blood can access Ingo when they enter the sea, including our brave heroine, which comes in useful when Malin's safety is threatened by mainlanders... but there is danger in the deep places for those without gills to breathe, and who will save Morveren from being enchanted by Ingo?

Stormswept is the fifth book of Helen Dunmore's 'The Ingo Chronicles', but it's a standalone story with enough introduction to the magic of Ingo that you don't need to have read any of the others to enjoy this one. While perfectly pitched for young readers with a straightforward plot and gentle romance, this atmospheric and beautifully written tale also works for older readers, and the complete paperback collection with their glittery covers is sure to look good on any mermaid fan's bookshelf, whatever their age.

*

Katherine Roberts writes fantasy and historical fiction for young (and older) readers.

Her debut fantasy Song Quest won the inaugural Branford Boase Award in 2000, and might make a good follow-up to the Ingo Chronicles for keen readers (teen/YA).

Song Quest
Book 1 of the Echorium Sequence
* Half-term offer! ebook only 99p/99c until end of May *

Find out more at www.katherineroberts.co.uk