We’re delighted that a new limited edition of Monique Roffey’s Costa-winning THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH has been published as part of Vintage Books’ new Vintage Earth series. Its striking new cover was designed by Rosie Palmer, with an illustration by Jesús Sotés.
Vintage Earth, released under the Vintage Classics imprint, is a series of novels exploring our relationship with the natural world, featuring stories old and new, ranging different genres, by authors from around the world. Other titles in the series are THE MAN WHO PLANTED TREES by Jean Giono, THE WALL by Marlen Haushofer, THE TUSK THAT DID THE DAMAGE by Tania James, SOLAR by Ian McEwan, THE MAN WITH THE COMPOUND EYES by Wu Ming-Yi, THE OVERSTORY by Richard Powers and THE LAST QUARTER OF THE MOON by Chi Zijian.
Vintage Classics describes the Vintage Earth list as ‘a series of books that reveals our ever-changing relationship with the environment. These are stories old and young, set in worlds real or imagined, that allow us to explore our connection to the natural world. Transformative, wild, surprising and essential, these novels take on the most urgent story of our times.’
Charlotte Knight, Vintage Classics Senior Editor, said ‘I am excited to see the range of books in this series brought together by the most important issue of our day. Old and new, from around the world and across genre, each of these novels has something powerful to say about the natural world. My hope is that every reader finds a story here that speaks to them.’
Natasha Collie, Brand Director, Vintage, said: ‘Great storytelling can be a uniquely powerful tool in changing the ways that we think and live. Each of the novels in this beautifully designed collection encourages us to reflect on our interactions with nature, through the medium of gripping fiction.’
THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH was published to wide acclaim in the UK by Peepal Tree Press in 2020 and by Vintage Books in 2021. It won the Costa Novel Award 2020 and the overall Costa Book of the Year Prize 2020. It was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize 2020, the Folio Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2021 and longlisted for the Orwell Prize and the Ondaatje Prize. Rights have been sold in the US, Estonia, France, Germany, Holland, Croatia, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Turkey and Russia, and film rights are under option. It will be published by Knopf in the US and Canada on 12 July, and has already received much praise in North America too.
THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH by Monique Roffey
His stomach trembled with desire and fear and wonder because he knew what he'd seen. A woman. Right there, in the water
On a quiet day, near the Caribbean island of Black Conch, a mermaid raises her barnacled head from the flat grey sea. She is attracted by David, a fisherman waiting for a catch, singing to himself with his guitar. Aycayia the mermaid has been living in the vast ocean all alone for centuries.
When Aycayia is caught and dragged ashore by American tourists, David rescues her with the aim of putting her back in the ocean. But it is soon clear that the mermaid is already transforming into a woman.
This is the story of their love affair, of a complex island community and of the great wide sea.
*
‘Not your standard mermaid. No comb and glass, no Lorelei hair. No catch and release…’ – Margaret Atwood
‘A daring, mesmerising novel that continually unseats expectation.’ – Maggie O’Farrell
‘A novel packed with layers of meaning around womanhood, alienation, masculinity, toxic attitudes towards women, and inter-female rivalry, as well as love, compassion and the search for home.’ – Bernardine Evaristo
‘A reading experience as captivating as a tropical storm. Full-throated and mesmerizing’ – C. Pam Zhang
‘Quite unlike anything I’d ever read.’ – Clare Chambers
Photo: Marcus Bastel
About Monique Roffey
Monique Roffey is an award-winning novelist who divides her time between Trinidad and London. HOUSE OF ASHES (Scribner UK) was shortlisted for the Costa and the BOCAS Prize. ARCHIPELAGO, winner of the OCM BOCAS prize for Caribbean Literature, was published by Scribner in the UK, Viking in the US, and translated into five languages. Her second novel THE WHITE WOMAN ON THE GREEN BICYCLE was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Encore Prize, among other accolades, and film/TV rights have been optioned. THE MERMAID OF BLACK CONCH won the Costa Prize as well as receiving many other prize nominations.
Visit Monique’s website and follow her on Twitter and Instagram.