Ingo (The Ingo Chronicles, Book 1)

Description

Stunning reissue, in beautiful new cover-look, of this magical and award-winning novel - the first of the spellbinding Ingo Chronicles... Once there was a man who fell in love with a mermaid. He swam down into the sea to be with her, and was never seen again... Sapphire's father told her that story when she was little. When he is lost at sea she can't help but think of that old myth: she's convinced he's still alive. Then, the following summer, Sapphy meets Faro, an enigmatic and intriguing Mer boy. Diving down into Ingo, she discovers a world she never knew existed, where she must let go of all her Air thoughts and embrace the sea... But not only is Sapphy intoxicated by the Mer world, she longs to see her father once more. And she's sure she can hear him singing across the water: "I wish I was away in Ingo Far across the briny sea..."

Helen Dunmore is an award-winning novelist and poet as well as a children's writer. She has published eight collections of poetry, and has written nine novels and two collections of short stories. She has won the Orange Prize for Fiction with her novel A Spell of Winter, and her novel The Siege was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Whitbread Prize for Fiction and was serialised on BBC Radio 4. Her latest novel, Counting the Stars, is published in February 2008.

"As ever, Dunmore's characters are beautifully drawn... Though the first in a series, this book works perfectly as a standalone title, with a satisfying resolution but enough left hanging in the air to make the characters and situations live on in the reader's mind. Ingo has a haunting, dangerous beauty all of its own." Philip Ardagh, Guardian "The electric thrill of swimming with dolphins, of racing along currents, and of leaving the world of reason and caution behind are described with glorious intensity." Amanda Craig, The Times "Compellingly lyrical." Independent "Helen Dunmore may have a few drowned readers on her conscience, so enticing and believable is the underwater world she creates in Ingo." Telegraph "Helen Dunmore is an exceptional and versatile writer and she writes with a restrained, sensual grace." Observer "A remarkable fantasy... It's a haunting, beautifully written book which creates a totally believable parallel world." Northern Echo "Ingo is an intoxicating adventure... Wonderful, evocative storytelling." Publishing News "An enchanting, modern twist on the Hans Christian Anderson story of the little mermaid... The marine imagery gives the story a wonderful sprinkling of the nautical and the magical." Telegraph "A tense, well-plotted story... Dunmore's sense of place, of the natural world, is particularly evocative." Irish Sunday Independent "Loss and language are poetically blended." Irish Times "The under-the-sea imagery is elegantly handled... Altogether a thoughtful book with emotional resonance." Carousel