A lovely charming tale of a mermaid who leaves the sea for love and adventure with P. T. Barnum's museum. Christina Henry has a knack for these kind of stories, sort of revisionist fairy tales, but they are always fun and a great joy to read and this one is no exception.

This is a marvelous retelling of the mermaid myth, featuring none other than master showman P.T. Barnum. Amelia gave up her life as a mermaid when she fell in love with the fisherman who caught her in his net. Once Amelia took human shape, the two were married until the day the fisherman put out to sea and never returned. Barnum had heard rumors of the mermaid and wanted her to become part of his collection of oddities. A real love mermaid was bound to make him money and to make him famous. Amelia goes along with the plan as a lark, something to do, planning to leave when she grows tired of the charade, but Barnum won’t give up his premier attraction so easily. Combining P.T. Barnum’s actual claim to have real mermaid with the age-old myth of a mermaid giving up her tail and life at sea for love, Henry breathes new life and excitement into her story