Mermaid Collection – serie

Rediscover the brilliance of Answer in the Negative in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. A 1950s Fleet Street murder mystery for classic crime fans – married couple and amateur sleuths Johnny and Sally Heldar are called into the National Press Archives to investigate some poison pen letters and cruel pranks, but things get a lot more sinister when the first murder happens . . .With a foreword by Sophie HannahA Hatchards Book of the Month‘He was lying sprawled on his stomach just outside the open doorway of his office, with his head and shoulders out of sight . . .’Frank Morningside, assistant at The National Press Archives on Fleet Street, is receiving nasty poison pen letters. His superior Toby Lorn wants to put a stop to it, so he calls on his friends Sally and Johnny Heldar.Married amateur sleuths, Sally and Johnny agree to go undercover, posing as researchers to scout out the many suspects in the Archives. After all, Fleet Street is home to plenty of seedy types and murky happenings. But, soon after they begin, they find a body – bludgeoned to death by a box of glass negatives.Suddenly, the genteel world of the Archives is a tangled web of suspicion and deadly danger. When another murder swiftly follows, the Heldars worry they are in over their heads.And it is only a matter of time before one of them is next . . .Reader praise for Henrietta Hamilton: 'A classic whodunnit, well written and engrossing' Reader Review *****'Hugely enjoyable classic crime' Reader Review *****'A gem!' Reader Review *****

Rediscover the brilliance of Regiment of Women in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. Set in a small town in Edwardian England, Regiment of Women is a page-turning and beguiling novel about the complicated relationship between a teacher and pupil at a private (and elitist) girls' school . . . With a foreword by Jacqueline Wilson'Imagine if Miss Jean Brodie was a lesbian ... Witty, joyous, razor-sharp. A wonderful new edition' The Times'I understand her. You don’t. She likes to be top dog. She’ll do anything for that. She likes to know every woman and child in the school is a bit of putty, to knead into shape.’Miss Clare Hartill, teacher at a girls’ boarding school, has a bewitching ability to get her own way, whether it is among the staff or the pupils who’ll do anything to please her. When nineteen-year-old Alwynne Durand is hired, Clare takes this innocent and enthusiastic but undisciplined young teacher under her wing.Soon, the pair are spending every moment together, with Alwynne growing as dependent on Clare as she is drawn to her beguiling wit and charm.But when tragedy touches the school, Alwynne begins to question Clare’s attentions. Sometimes, she thinks, her new friend can be cruel.Torn between a Clare she loves and a Clare she fears, Alwynne must decide between loyalty and independence – before Clare chooses for her . . . Praise for Clemence Dane:'Clemence Dane's special distinction as a writer is to have won distinction in many different literary fields and to have been mediocre in none' New York Times

Rediscover the brilliance of Regiment of Women in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. Set in a small town in Edwardian England, Regiment of Women is a page-turning and beguiling novel about the complicated relationship between a teacher and pupil at a private (and elitist) girls' school . . . With a foreword by Jacqueline Wilson'Imagine if Miss Jean Brodie was a lesbian ... Witty, joyous, razor-sharp. A wonderful new edition' The Times'I understand her. You don’t. She likes to be top dog. She’ll do anything for that. She likes to know every woman and child in the school is a bit of putty, to knead into shape.’Miss Clare Hartill, teacher at a girls’ boarding school, has a bewitching ability to get her own way, whether it is among the staff or the pupils who’ll do anything to please her. When nineteen-year-old Alwynne Durand is hired, Clare takes this innocent and enthusiastic but undisciplined young teacher under her wing.Soon, the pair are spending every moment together, with Alwynne growing as dependent on Clare as she is drawn to her beguiling wit and charm.But when tragedy touches the school, Alwynne begins to question Clare’s attentions. Sometimes, she thinks, her new friend can be cruel.Torn between a Clare she loves and a Clare she fears, Alwynne must decide between loyalty and independence – before Clare chooses for her . . . Praise for Clemence Dane:'Clemence Dane's special distinction as a writer is to have won distinction in many different literary fields and to have been mediocre in none' New York Times

Rediscover the brilliance of Down Among the Women in the Mermaid Collection – timeless classics by pioneering female authors, beautifully reissued to enchant today’s readers.A classic from beloved national treasure Fay Weldon sees four women break the shackles of patriarchy and domesticity in 1950s London, from the author of The Lives and Loves of a She-DevilWith a foreword by Jenny Colgan‘Down among the women. What a place to be!’So says Wanda, a former radical who left her husband and raised her daughter Scarlet to be as liberated as she. But twenty-year-old Scarlet, with an abortion already behind her, is about to discover real liberation – as a single mother in Fifties’ London. Yet Scarlet’s not alone. Meet her friends: Sylvia, the born victim; respectable Jocelyn, willingly trapped in a dull, bourgeois marriage; Audrey, bristling to break free of her conventional life; and Helen, beautiful, vibrant – and very doomed.Over the course of twenty years, from the Fifties to the Seventies, Scarlet, Wanda and their friends will wonder if they can ever become the women they always dreamed of being.Praise for Fay Weldon: 'A national treasure' Literary Review'Wickedly stylish. Bursting with intelligence and fire' Daily Telegraph'Prolific and provocative, Weldon shines brightest in the league table of British women novelists' Time Out'A queen of words' Caitlin Moran

Rediscover the brilliance of Down Among the Women in the Mermaid Collection – timeless classics by pioneering female authors, beautifully reissued to enchant today’s readers.A classic from beloved national treasure Fay Weldon sees four women break the shackles of patriarchy and domesticity in 1950s London, from the author of The Lives and Loves of a She-DevilWith a foreword by Jenny Colgan‘Down among the women. What a place to be!’So says Wanda, a former radical who left her husband and raised her daughter Scarlet to be as liberated as she. But twenty-year-old Scarlet, with an abortion already behind her, is about to discover real liberation – as a single mother in Fifties’ London. Yet Scarlet’s not alone. Meet her friends: Sylvia, the born victim; respectable Jocelyn, willingly trapped in a dull, bourgeois marriage; Audrey, bristling to break free of her conventional life; and Helen, beautiful, vibrant – and very doomed.Over the course of twenty years, from the Fifties to the Seventies, Scarlet, Wanda and their friends will wonder if they can ever become the women they always dreamed of being.Praise for Fay Weldon: 'A national treasure' Literary Review'Wickedly stylish. Bursting with intelligence and fire' Daily Telegraph'Prolific and provocative, Weldon shines brightest in the league table of British women novelists' Time Out'A queen of words' Caitlin Moran

Rediscover the brilliance of Lucy Carmichael in the Mermaid Collection – timeless classics by pioneering female authors, beautifully reissued to enchant today’s readers.Originally published in 1951 from the author of beloved holiday classic The Feast comes a glorious coming-of-age tale about a heroine whose wedding day does not go entirely to plan . . . With a foreword by Lucy Mangan ***‘People seem to get over things, don’t they? I don’t know how, but they do – ordinary people. I’m very ordinary, so I expect I shall do what they do.’Lucy Carmichael is jilted at the altar. But no matter. Her loving and kind family never liked her explorer fiancé anyway.Instead of moping or falling into her supportive family’s arms, however, Lucy abandons their suburban home. Heading for the country, she takes up a teaching position in the industrial town of Ravonsbridge.There, she finds solace in her work, in her new (rather gossipy) colleagues – and rediscovers her sensible young self.But if Lucy has, despite everything, kept her head – where lies her heart?Praise for Margaret Kennedy:'She is not only a romantic but an anarchist, and she knows the ways of men and women very well indeed' Anita Brookner'Kennedy was immensely popular in her heyday' Washington Post'Margaret Kennedy's poised style, cool wit and skilful characterization kept her novels welcome for three decades' Cambridge Guide to Literature in English

Rediscover the brilliance of Lucy Carmichael in the Mermaid Collection – timeless classics by pioneering female authors, beautifully reissued to enchant today’s readers.Originally published in 1951 from the author of beloved holiday classic The Feast comes a glorious coming-of-age tale about a heroine whose wedding day does not go entirely to plan . . . With a foreword by Lucy Mangan ***‘People seem to get over things, don’t they? I don’t know how, but they do – ordinary people. I’m very ordinary, so I expect I shall do what they do.’Lucy Carmichael is jilted at the altar. But no matter. Her loving and kind family never liked her explorer fiancé anyway.Instead of moping or falling into her supportive family’s arms, however, Lucy abandons their suburban home. Heading for the country, she takes up a teaching position in the industrial town of Ravonsbridge.There, she finds solace in her work, in her new (rather gossipy) colleagues – and rediscovers her sensible young self.But if Lucy has, despite everything, kept her head – where lies her heart?Praise for Margaret Kennedy:'She is not only a romantic but an anarchist, and she knows the ways of men and women very well indeed' Anita Brookner'Kennedy was immensely popular in her heyday' Washington Post'Margaret Kennedy's poised style, cool wit and skilful characterization kept her novels welcome for three decades' Cambridge Guide to Literature in English

Rediscover the brilliance of Fenny in the Mermaid Collection – timeless classics by pioneering female authors, beautifully reissued to enchant today’s readers.A richly evocative coming-of-age novel, Fenny follows a young English governess who falls deeply in love with Tuscany in 1933, even as she faces the pain of unrequited love and the shadows of political unrest.With a foreword by Jennie Godfrey‘The strange city through which they drove was the scenery of a dream . . .’Yorkshire teacher Ellen Fenwick has never been abroad.But when her mother dies, this young woman finds herself taking a position as governess to an English girl in Florence in the summer of 1933. Little does Ellen realise how this girl, Juliet, and her family will claim her.For as the summer passes, Ellen falls so in love with Italy and her new home that she cannot bear to leave – even when her own hopes of love are cruelly thwarted. Even when the shadow of war falls across the country, she doesn’t flee but clings on – for her friends, for those she loves more than herself.Ellen – selfless, big-hearted, accepting – cannot know what is coming. Yet, she will not face it alone . . .Praise for Lettice Cooper:‘A writer of quiet but strong, deep and varied gifts’ Sunday Telegraph ‘A storyteller of adventures of the heart’ Jilly Cooper

Rediscover the brilliance of Fenny in the Mermaid Collection – timeless classics by pioneering female authors, beautifully reissued to enchant today’s readers.A richly evocative coming-of-age novel, Fenny follows a young English governess who falls deeply in love with Tuscany in 1933, even as she faces the pain of unrequited love and the shadows of political unrest.With a foreword by Jennie Godfrey‘The strange city through which they drove was the scenery of a dream . . .’Yorkshire teacher Ellen Fenwick has never been abroad.But when her mother dies, this young woman finds herself taking a position as governess to an English girl in Florence in the summer of 1933. Little does Ellen realise how this girl, Juliet, and her family will claim her.For as the summer passes, Ellen falls so in love with Italy and her new home that she cannot bear to leave – even when her own hopes of love are cruelly thwarted. Even when the shadow of war falls across the country, she doesn’t flee but clings on – for her friends, for those she loves more than herself.Ellen – selfless, big-hearted, accepting – cannot know what is coming. Yet, she will not face it alone . . .Praise for Lettice Cooper:‘A writer of quiet but strong, deep and varied gifts’ Sunday Telegraph ‘A storyteller of adventures of the heart’ Jilly Cooper

Rediscover the brilliance of Through A Glass, Darkly in the Mermaid Collection – timeless classics by pioneering female authors, beautifully reissued to enchant today’s readers.The jewel in the crown of the beloved Dr Basil Willing mysteries - when unassuming art teacher Faustina Crayle loses her second job in quick succession, only Basil can help, and it goes from bad to worse for Faustina when a body is found . . .With a foreword by Gillian McAllister‘They watch me all the time. In and out of the classroom, their eyes are always following me . . .’Quiet, gentle, young Faustina Crayle is dismissed from her teaching position at Brereton School for Girls after just a few weeks. She is given no explanation, but it’s clear certain staff and pupils fear her.Her friend and fellow teacher Gisela contacts psychologist and sleuth Dr Basil Willing who offers to investigate these outlandish claims. But this only confirms two damning facts – first, that this happened at a previous school and, second, people believe there are two sides to enigmatic Faustina.When a body is found at the school and Faustina is implicated in the death, it is clear that darkness swirls around this young woman. But is she the perpetrator or victim?Praise for Helen McCloy: 'McCloy has always resembled the best writers of the Sayers-Blake-Allingham school' New York Times‘In the very top rank’ Sunday Times

Rediscover the brilliance of Through A Glass, Darkly in the Mermaid Collection – timeless classics by pioneering female authors, beautifully reissued to enchant today’s readers.The jewel in the crown of the beloved Dr Basil Willing mysteries - when unassuming art teacher Faustina Crayle loses her second job in quick succession, only Basil can help, and it goes from bad to worse for Faustina when a body is found . . .With a foreword by Gillian McAllister‘They watch me all the time. In and out of the classroom, their eyes are always following me . . .’Quiet, gentle, young Faustina Crayle is dismissed from her teaching position at Brereton School for Girls after just a few weeks. She is given no explanation, but it’s clear certain staff and pupils fear her.Her friend and fellow teacher Gisela contacts psychologist and sleuth Dr Basil Willing who offers to investigate these outlandish claims. But this only confirms two damning facts – first, that this happened at a previous school and, second, people believe there are two sides to enigmatic Faustina.When a body is found at the school and Faustina is implicated in the death, it is clear that darkness swirls around this young woman. But is she the perpetrator or victim?Praise for Helen McCloy: 'McCloy has always resembled the best writers of the Sayers-Blake-Allingham school' New York Times‘In the very top rank’ Sunday Times

Rediscover the brilliance of Tortoise by Candlelight in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. Set just outside London in the early 1960s, this is a charming novel about a family living on the edge of society in their dilapidated Victorian house following the departure of their mother - and the upheaval when a new couple moves in next door . . .With a foreword by Eve Chase‘Birds don’t love. They only feed their babies because they gape . . .’Fourteen-year-old Emmie Bean loves her family. But she worries about them too. Her mother is gone (no one will say where). Her father drinks instead of writing. Her younger brother Oliver has started stealing. And older sister Alice disappears on illicit dates.Then there is their isolated house’s menagerie of birds and animals, including Mo the squirrel and Murgatroyd the tortoise, all of which require Emmie’s love and attention.When the Sargents, a childless couple, move in next door, Emmie and the Beans find themselves drawn to this welcoming but aimless husband and wife.Emmie fears the darkness and chaos surrounding them all. But perhaps love burns bright . . .Praise for Nina Bawden:‘An exceptional picture of disorganised family life’ Observer‘Bawden is noted too for the sharp sense of humour that edges her tales of middle-class manners and mores towards satire, particularly when it all goes wrong’ Guardian

Rediscover the brilliance of Tortoise by Candlelight in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. Set just outside London in the early 1960s, this is a charming novel about a family living on the edge of society in their dilapidated Victorian house following the departure of their mother - and the upheaval when a new couple moves in next door . . .With a foreword by Eve Chase‘Birds don’t love. They only feed their babies because they gape . . .’Fourteen-year-old Emmie Bean loves her family. But she worries about them too. Her mother is gone (no one will say where). Her father drinks instead of writing. Her younger brother Oliver has started stealing. And older sister Alice disappears on illicit dates.Then there is their isolated house’s menagerie of birds and animals, including Mo the squirrel and Murgatroyd the tortoise, all of which require Emmie’s love and attention.When the Sargents, a childless couple, move in next door, Emmie and the Beans find themselves drawn to this welcoming but aimless husband and wife.Emmie fears the darkness and chaos surrounding them all. But perhaps love burns bright . . .Praise for Nina Bawden:‘An exceptional picture of disorganised family life’ Observer‘Bawden is noted too for the sharp sense of humour that edges her tales of middle-class manners and mores towards satire, particularly when it all goes wrong’ Guardian

Rediscover the brilliance of The Cost of Living in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. A witty and characterful novel about the aftermath of a party thrown by singletons Marianne, a freelance typist in her mid-thirties and twenty-six year old Alexandra, a freelance portrait painter, who live in the same apartment building and have decided it's time to meet some men . . . With a foreword by Jane Fallon‘You’re always so cynical. It doesn’t do. It makes men feel inferior.’‘Quite a few of them are . . .’Idealistic Alexandra is throwing a party to meet a more glamorous crowd. Marianne, more sardonic, worries it’ll be the usual sort.The party is in Alexandra’s attic flat. Marianne will contribute a few bottles of red optimistically labelled Bordeaux. Can it be judged a success? There’s Donald the bus conductor with high-brow dreams, nervous bespectacled Bernhardt and Marius the ghostwriter. Not to mention a brace of Peters. It’s left to sexy, young Pisa and riotous, middle-aged Mummy (neither invited) to steal the show.Yet, after the party both Marianne and Alexandra find themselves caught in unexpected – sometimes far from romantic – relationships. Meeting people, it turns out, has the most peculiar consequences. Is that really the cost of living?Praise for Kathleen Farrell: ‘Genuine wit, an acute feminine intelligence and a natural distinction of style’ Spectator‘A distinctive voice, and she provided her readers with subtle pleasures’ Guardian

Rediscover the brilliance of The Cost of Living in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. A witty and characterful novel about the aftermath of a party thrown by singletons Marianne, a freelance typist in her mid-thirties and twenty-six year old Alexandra, a freelance portrait painter, who live in the same apartment building and have decided it's time to meet some men . . . With a foreword by Jane Fallon‘You’re always so cynical. It doesn’t do. It makes men feel inferior.’‘Quite a few of them are . . .’Idealistic Alexandra is throwing a party to meet a more glamorous crowd. Marianne, more sardonic, worries it’ll be the usual sort.The party is in Alexandra’s attic flat. Marianne will contribute a few bottles of red optimistically labelled Bordeaux. Can it be judged a success? There’s Donald the bus conductor with high-brow dreams, nervous bespectacled Bernhardt and Marius the ghostwriter. Not to mention a brace of Peters. It’s left to sexy, young Pisa and riotous, middle-aged Mummy (neither invited) to steal the show.Yet, after the party both Marianne and Alexandra find themselves caught in unexpected – sometimes far from romantic – relationships. Meeting people, it turns out, has the most peculiar consequences. Is that really the cost of living?Praise for Kathleen Farrell: ‘Genuine wit, an acute feminine intelligence and a natural distinction of style’ Spectator‘A distinctive voice, and she provided her readers with subtle pleasures’ Guardian

Rediscover the brilliance of Answer in the Negative in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. A 1950s Fleet Street murder mystery for classic crime fans – married couple and amateur sleuths Johnny and Sally Heldar are called into the National Press Archives to investigate some poison pen letters and cruel pranks, but things get a lot more sinister when the first murder happens . . .With a foreword by Sophie HannahA Hatchards Book of the Month‘He was lying sprawled on his stomach just outside the open doorway of his office, with his head and shoulders out of sight . . .’Frank Morningside, assistant at The National Press Archives on Fleet Street, is receiving nasty poison pen letters. His superior Toby Lorn wants to put a stop to it, so he calls on his friends Sally and Johnny Heldar.Married amateur sleuths, Sally and Johnny agree to go undercover, posing as researchers to scout out the many suspects in the Archives. After all, Fleet Street is home to plenty of seedy types and murky happenings. But, soon after they begin, they find a body – bludgeoned to death by a box of glass negatives.Suddenly, the genteel world of the Archives is a tangled web of suspicion and deadly danger. When another murder swiftly follows, the Heldars worry they are in over their heads.And it is only a matter of time before one of them is next . . .Reader praise for Henrietta Hamilton: 'A classic whodunnit, well written and engrossing' Reader Review *****'Hugely enjoyable classic crime' Reader Review *****'A gem!' Reader Review *****

Rediscover the brilliance of Forever Amber in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. Pre-order this gorgeous edition now. A book to read and reread, Forever Amber is an unforgettable romance, a timeless masterpiece and a runaway bestseller in its day.With a foreword by India Knight---------‘If you had better sense you’d have learned by now that nothing thrives so well as wickedness.’1644, and Amber St Clare’s birth is her noble-born mother’s death. Raised in the countryside, in ignorance of her true origins, sixteen-year-old Amber’s beauty nevertheless attracts the eye of soldier Lord Bruce Carlton on his way to London to celebrate Charles II reclaiming his throne.Amber naively convinces his Lordship to take her with him, where she discovers a beguiling but terrifying world: of highwaymen and whores, courtiers and conmen. After many adventures, she is left abandoned, pregnant and penniless. But Amber is not defeated. Embarking on an extraordinary social odyssey, Amber survives multiple marriages and births, the Plague and the Great Fire, steadily rising from the gutter to the very top of London society – via the King’s bed – in the years of the Restoration – all the while plotting and pining for the one man she cannot have.In a world that holds women firmly in their place, Amber scandalizes all by obeying no one’s rules but her own . . .----------Praise for Kathleen Winsor:'The length of the book, the flash and roar and colour and excitement and general naughtiness, spring from the author’s passionate fascination. Quite simply, it entertains you in the most preposterous, flamboyant way' Atlantic'Packed with melodramatic action, rich with historical background' New York Times

Rediscover the brilliance of Not So Quiet . . . in the Mermaid Collection - classic books by popular pioneering female authors republished to delight new generations of readers. Pre-order this gorgeous new edition now. Inspired by perennial classic All Quiet on the Western Front, this is an unforgettable novel of war work, camaraderie and female friendship on the battlefields of WWI, and the brave and misled women on enemy lines . . . With a foreword by Alice Winn ‘What is to happen to women like me when this war ends … if it ever ends. I am twenty-one, yet I know nothing but death, fear, blood and sentimentality that glorifies in the name of patriotism.’Nell Smith is one of England’s ‘Splendid Daughters’, middle-class women abroad doing their bit for King and Country in World War One. At just 21, she pays for the privilege of driving an ambulance to ferry the dying and wounded between the front line and hospital.Facing constant shellfire, half frozen, fed on inedible slop, with no sleep and enduring the lashing tongue of commandant ‘Mrs Bitch’, Nell and her sister drivers entertain no illusions about the war – unlike friends and family back home. Only their comradeship and letters from distant lovers sustains them.As the war grinds on, the lottery of who lives and who dies creeps closer to Nell herself. A naïve girl volunteered for this. But who is this broken woman nightly driving blind through hell itself?Praise for Helen Zenna Smith:‘This intriguing book . . . vividly and impressionistically tells of the author's tour of duty in France. One welcomes its return to print’ New York Times Book Review‘A bittersweet feminist anti-war novel. Brilliantly written, and cleverly mixing humour with bitterness’ Library Journal