The Glass Mermaid Review

By: Rae

“I was the last of us. And my time was nearly done.”

– Poppy Lawless, The Glass Mermaid

Poppy Lawless presents a timeless novella that asks, “What would you sacrifice to save the one you love?” Ultimately I cannot answer that in this review for fear of giving away any spoilers. I can say the book and the characters are inspiring when it comes to both whimsical and earthy emotions. The blend of fairy tale, legend, family, and individualism spoke to me and caused a lot of nostalgic musings.

The Glass Mermaid starts off a month into the plot, backtracking here and there to give a background on the main characters Kate and Cooper and how they have interacted previously. Kate is the last of her kind, literally. As a mermaid without a home and little magic left, she treads carefully in life, only taking real pleasure when she walks the beach at sunset looking for gifts from Lake Eric – pieces of glass she makes jewelry with. There was something heartbreaking about her timelessness. It was as if she was going to disappear before the page would end. I wanted her to live, to be happy. I wanted to know why she was the last. But before any of my questions were answered (and luckily for me they are!) Cooper is introduced.

If I thought Kate and her old age quality was heart wrenching, Cooper pulled a few strings I didn’t know existed. How can you really accept death? Accept that everything you wanted to do was gone in the blink of an eye? I worried Cooper would be too one dimensional but he surprised me with his fierceness, his desire for life, that lived through his paintings. If Kate is the lore and hope of this novella than Cooper was created to show that it is useless to have regrets.

Together Kate and Cooper prove that there is always a chance for a second beginning. The only problem I had with this tale was its abrupt ending. I knew it was coming but the last page had me blinking in a stupor. While the epilogue cleared some things up, there is an absence of time that bothered me and everything felt so rushed to reach the conclusion. Because it was a short piece there is bound to be time holes. I was also a tiny bit disappointed we couldn’t see more of Cooper and Kate’s respective backgrounds. As a fan of fairy tales I was chomping at the bit to know more mermaid lore. Upon further reflection I feel like while there were holes I was able to daydream along with the story and reach my own conclusions. I felt anticipation on every page, a hunger to know more, and that to me says a lot about this tale.

In the end, I was satisfied and would suggest The Glass Mermaid to anyone looking for a short, magical, and romantic read on life.

To find out more about Poppy and her fairy tales, click here!

Check out an interview with Poppy here!