The Mermaid And Mrs Hancock

By Imogen Hermes Gowar Harvill Secker, £12.99

There’s much promise and imagination in The Mermaid And Mrs Hancock, but somehow Imogen Hermes Gowar struggles to fully realise them, getting bogged down in an overly meandering plot. Mr Hancock is a slightly tubby businessman whose success is dependent on what his ships bring in. Overwhelmed by sadness after the loss of his wife and son during childbirth, his fortunes seem set to change when the tides provide him with a curious “mermaid” to put on display. Precocious, frivolous escort Angelica is on the brink of society greatness, but needs bankrolling and protection courtesy of a suitor – and she and Hancock of course collide. The supporting characters are a little hammy (the prim Miss Frost, the wheezing bawd, Mrs Chappell), and the plot needs tightening up. However, the dips in and out of London’s underbelly are intriguingly gaudy, and the details of domestic life are precise and telling. There’s a twist, but it is too predictable to be wholly satisfying, leaving you wishing the book’s editors had performed some slightly more ambitious surgery. ■