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“An utterly romantic and breathless adventure that

wouldn’t let me sleep until I’d devoured every last word.”


—Dahlia Adler, author of Under the Lights and editor of His Hideous Heart

“I wanted to live in the world of this book forever, and I can’t stop obsessing about
the rich tapestry of pirates, mermaids, witches, and conniving nobles who inhabit it.”
—Charlie Jane Anders, author of the Nebula Award–winning novel All the Birds in the Sky

Maggie Tokuda-Hall
The pirate Florian, born Flora, has always done whatever it
takes to survive—including sailing under false flag on
the Dove as a marauder, thief, and worse. Lady Evelyn
Hasegawa, a highborn Imperial daughter, is on board as
well—accompanied by her own casket. But Evelyn’s one-
way voyage to an arranged marriage in the Floating
Islands is interrupted when the captain and crew show
their true colors and enslave their wealthy passengers.
Both Florian and Evelyn have lived their lives by the
rules, and whims, of others. But when they fall in love,
they decide to take fate into their own hands—no matter
the cost.
Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s sweeping fantasy, full of stolen
memories, illicit mermaid’s blood, double agents, and
haunting mythical creatures, conjures an extraordinary
cast of characters and the unforgettable story of a couple
striving to stay together in the face of myriad forces wish-
On sale May 5, 2020
HC: 978-1-5362-0431-5 • $18.99 ($24.99 CAN) ing to control their identities and destinies.
Age 14 and up • 368 pages
Also available as an e-book and in audio

#mermaidwitchsea
A Note from the Author
One of my favorite things about being an indie bookseller was that—unlike when you’re a parent or a
teacher—it’s OK to have a favorite kid. And mine was Clare.
She was nine when I met her, painfully shy, and she loved sweeping epic fantasies. Second worlds.
Portals. Mayhem. As an eleven-year-old, she particularly loved Malinda Lo, for some reason that she
couldn’t quite identify. (I had my guess as to why, but it wasn’t for me to say.) And while she was smarter
and a much more attentive reader than I’d been at her age, there was something we recognized in each
other. The easy answer is we were both nerds. The fairer answer is probably that we both felt a bit out of
place all the time.
I grew up half Japanese and half Jewish in a country that’s only ever half wanted me. I was never
Japanese enough to fit in with the Asian kids, never Jewish enough to fit in at Hebrew school. I was told,
often, that I didn’t belong to either group. So when I met Clare, I wore the aura of a misfit like a perfume.
We liked each other almost immediately.
When she was twelve, I started writing the book that is now The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea.
I was writing it, I told myself, for Clare. It would have all the things she liked best: witches, pirates, rules,
murder, and—though she would not have known to ask for it then—a queer romance at its heart.
In the five years it took to complete a first, messy draft of this story, a curious shift took place. Yes,
the book was very much still for Clare; she was on my mind with every word that I wrote. But now it was
also for me. Not adult me, but twelve-year-old me. The twelve-year-old me who, like Clare, loved all
things magic and mayhem and mermaid. The twelve-year-old me who, also just like Clare, longed to see
myself reflected in the pages of the fantasy novels I read.
To me, The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea is a story about stories. The stories we tell ourselves.
The stories we tell one another. The stories that define nations and nationalities. And none of the main
characters see themselves in the stories that are told about them, just as I did not see myself in the sto-
ries I grew up reading. There were no Asians in the Enchanted Forest, no lesbians in Narnia, no one
with a complicated relationship with gender at Hogwarts. And so this book I was writing was a story
about stories, sure, but it was also something else. It was a love letter to the kid Clare had been, queer
and uncomfortable, passionate and shy. The kid I’d been. An invitation to belong.
And I hope kids now find themselves in it, too.

Maggie Tokuda-Hall is the author of Also an Octopus,


illustrated by Benji Davies. This is her first novel. She
lives in San Francisco.
Photo credit: Red Scott

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