Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock (Gowar)

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock
Imogen Hermes Gowar, 2018
HarperCollins
496 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062859952


Summary
In 1780s London, a prosperous merchant finds his quiet life upended when he unexpectedly receives a most unusual creature—and meets a most extraordinary woman—in this much-lauded, atmospheric debut. The novel examines our capacity for wonder, obsession, and desire—with all the magnetism, originality, and literary magic of The Essex Serpent.

One September evening in 1785, Jonah Hancock hears an urgent knocking on his front door near the docks of London. The captain of one of Jonah’s trading vessels is waiting eagerly on the front step, bearing shocking news.

On a voyage to the Far East, he sold Jonah’s ship for something rare and far more precious: a mermaid. Jonah is stunned—the object the captain presents him is brown and wizened, as small as an infant, with vicious teeth and claws, and a torso that ends in the tail of a fish.

It is also dead.

As gossip spreads through the docks, coffee shops, parlors and brothels, all of London is curious to see this marvel in Jonah Hancock’s possession. Thrust from his ordinary existence, somber Jonah finds himself moving from the city’s seedy underbelly to the finest drawing rooms of high society.

At an opulent party, he makes the acquaintance of the coquettish Angelica Neal, the most desirable woman he has ever laid eyes on—and a shrewd courtesan of great accomplishment. This meeting sparks a perilous liaison that steers both their lives onto a dangerous new course as they come to realize that priceless things often come at the greatest cost.

Imogen Hermes Gowar, Britain’s most-heralded new literary talent, makes her debut with this spellbinding novel of a merchant, a mermaid, and a madam—an unforgettable confection that explores obsession, wonder, and the deepest desires of the heart with bawdy wit, intrigue, and a touch of magic. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1987
• Where—in the UK
• Education—B.A., M.A., University of East Anglia
• Awards—Curtis Brown Award
• Currently—lives in London, England


Imogen Hermes Gowar studied Archaeology, Anthropology and Art History at the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts before going on to work in museums. She began to write small pieces of fiction inspired by the artefacts she worked with and around, and in 2013 won the Malcolm Bradbury Memorial Scholarship to study for an MA in Creative Writing at UEA. 

She won the Curtis Brown Prize for her dissertation, which grew into what would become her debut novel—The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. An early draft was a finalist in the MsLexia First Novel Competition 2015, and it was also one of three entries shortlisted for the inaugural Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers’ Award. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
A gripping… study of the intertwined lives of sex workers and high society in Georgian London…. Themes… —of independence, love, class, death and gender stereotypes—are skilfully explored here through a late 18th-century lens.
Financial Times (UK)


Superb…. A cracking historical novel… by turns intriguing, touching, funny, sad and heartwarming…. The cast of endlessly engaging characters will keep you turning the pages until you get to the wholly satisfying ending…. The novel immerses you in a world in a way that reminds me of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
Times (UK)


A swift, rollicking read…. Richly descriptive…. Like the recent historical-fiction hits Francis Spufford’s Golden Hill, Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent, and Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist, this is a novel pungent in historical detail.
Sunday Times (UK)


Historical fiction at its finest, combining myth and legend with the brutal realities of the past, chief among them the mistreatment of women and black people and the inequality that existed among the classes. Comparisons will be drawn to the works of contemporary authors Sarah Waters and Michael Faber… but The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock has more in common with the novels of Dickens and Austen.
Irish Times (UK)


There is much to chew on here, and much to savour, presented with wit and showmanship…. The elan of this book is female, from the madams running their girls, to the book’s most obvious literary forebear, Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus. Imogen Hermes Gowar is the real deal.
Guardian (UK)


From the first page of this dazzling debut novel, you are pitched into a sumptuously detailed adventure set in the bustle and swagger of 18th century London.… The result is a wonderfully written and richly descriptive novel, its brilliantly drawn characters driven by heady and dangerous desires.
Sunday Express (UK)


(Starred review) [D]elightful…. This is, indeed, a kind of fairy tale, one whose splendid combination of myth and reality testifies to Gowar’s imagination and talent.
Publishers Weekly


(Starred review) Concerned with the issue of women’s freedom, Gowar offers a panoramic view of Georgian society, from its coffeehouses and street life to class distinctions and multicultural populace.… {A] sumptuous historical feast.
Booklist


(Starred review) Brilliantly written and redolent with evocative historical detail, this debut novel is as much a portrait of Georgian London as it is of the characters inhabiting it. —Cynthia Johnson, formerly with Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, MA
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for THE MERMAID AND MRS. HANCOCK ... then take off on your own:

BEWARE OF PLOT SPOILERS.

1. How would you describe Jonah Hancock? Do you consider him an honest man? An opportunist? A simpleton? Is he interesting enough character to carry the bulk of the novel?

2. Bet Chappell: what do you think of her? What does her pornographic mermaid burlesque say about her understanding of society's mores in the late 1700s?

3. Angelica Neal is a prostitute who beguiles Jonah into turning over his mermaid to Chappell. How else would you describe her? She is in love with George Rockingham, so were you surprised that she agreed to marry Jonah? Clearly the two make an unlikely couple: what do you think of the marriage?

4. What do you make of the remark to the newly married Angelica that "You are helpless. You are kept… Perhaps you mistake this for independence, but you are still a whore"?

5. Follow-up to Question 4: Consider the thematic parallels that Imogen Hermes Gowar sets up between the mermaid and the female characters in the novel. Talk about the way the author combines myth and legend with the brutal realities, especially for women (and slaves) of 18th century life.

6. How surprised were you (unless you knew beforehand from book reviews) to learn of the live mermaid Jonah kept in the grotto in the back garden?

7. The author writes that the mermaid, contained in her saltwater vat, is a "great voluptuous sorrow rolling over." What does that statement mean? Talk about the affect the trapped mermaid has over Jonah's Greenwich household and his marriage.

8. What do you make of Angelica's change in personality toward the end? Is it convincing?

9. Which other characters were you particularly taken with—in a positive and/or negative way.

10. To what degree does the author's background working in museums reveal itself in her novel? What difference does it make in the juxtaposition of reality and fantasy?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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