'Essie Fox's novel reads at times like Wilkie Collins, who similarly mixed progressive social commentary with narrative thrills and suspense. But there are also darker, Gothic elements here that expose the mouldy underbelly of Victoriana. Fox lingers on grotesque images – from a wrinkled mermaid in a freak show to a prostitute's syphilis-ravaged features – and the effect can be deliciously unsettling.'
'Essie Fox's novel reads at times like Wilkie Collins, who similarly mixed progressive social commentary with narrative thrills and suspense. But there are also darker, Gothic elements here that expose the mouldy underbelly of Victoriana. Fox lingers on grotesque images – from a wrinkled mermaid in a freak show to a prostitute's syphilis-ravaged features – and the effect can be deliciously unsettling.'
The Independent
"Mermaid delights in the underworld and exotica of Victorian Britain...Memorable and unusual."
The Sunday Times
"A fabulous foray into a shadowy Victorian world"
Woman & Home Magazine
"The author behind the Virtual Victorian blog has followed up her Channel 4 Book Club choice The Somnambulist with this Wilkie Collins-style sensation novel, whose mixed-media approach (letters, diaries, multiple narrators) allows her to indulge her gift for pastiche. It follows the interlocked fortunes of web-footed Pearl - raised in a brothel and now the captive muse of a cruel, Pre-Raphaelitish painter - and two orphaned twins, Lily and Elijah. An obvious comparison is with early Sarah Waters: in fact Elijah's Mermaid is more rococo...but the glee with which Fox approaches her material is infectious. All Victorian life is here, which means the novel itself becomes a kind of freakshow, obsessed with its relationship to its own cleverly chosen epigraphs and the 'penny dreadful' tales to which characters allude. Intriguing."
'Essie Fox has, with Dickensian precision, revealed a passionate story of obsessive love, and sordid betrayal. Beautifully descriptive... the highly regarded worlds of Victorian art and literature meet the dark and repellent demimondaine in a story that abounds with duplicity and scandalous intrigue.'
New Books Magazine
"EVOCATIVE ESCAPISM ~ IF YOU LIKE IMAGINATIVE, ROMANTIC STORIES THEN THIS BOOK IS DEFINITELY THE ONE FOR YOU! A BEAUTIFUL GOTHIC NOVEL WE LOVED AND KNOW YOU WILL TOO."
ESSENTIALS MAGAZINE
'The author captures the essence of Victorian life in this richly textured novel. You name it, it’s there: a web of interconnected lives, sensational melodrama, sexuality and sanctity, pornography and child exploitation. In the wrong hands, it could have been a thin pastiche or a ‘modern’ take on Dickens. However, the author has created a hugely enjoyable novel that constantly trips you up when you think you know what’s coming. If you love all things Victorian, you will love this.'
HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY - EDITOR'S CHOICE
"Fox's vivid, sensual prose is - fittingly - as seductive as a siren's song, drawing you into a shadowy Victorian world of obsession and guilt... An intoxicating follow-up to 2011's acclaimed The Somnambulist.Recommended to fans of Sarah Waters."
HEAT MAGAZINE
This is a modern Gothic novel with a beguiling story at its heart. Big themes of love, obsession, betrayal, tragedy and madness fill the pages, as a shadowy underworld collides with the art and literature elite. Fox weaves her story with dramatic style and allure, creating a cast of enticing characters and an intriguing plot that I couldn’t get enough of.
Shelley Marks, Deputy Editor, The White Company Blog
"Sensuous and dark, the prose flows through your senses gently like stream at first, before pulling you down into the murky depths of the The House of Mermaids. Pearl is such an apt name for the gem that resides in that house."
Pam McIlroy ~ The Broadway Book Club
"Elijah's Mermaid... is awash with exhilarating twists and turns that will keep the reader gripped to its satisfying end."
Yorkshire Evening Post
'Drawing vividly on sensation novels of the 1860's, this is a highly enjoyable and evidentially well-researched page turner, packed with dramatic narrative twists and turns, colourful locations and a cast of well-realised characters. '
THE METRO
"Dark secrets, hidden pasts and childhood mysteries are the focus in this sensual melodrama...an entertaining slice of Victoriana, rich in historical detail...a tale of obsessive love and betrayal."
Marie Claire Magazine
"ELIJAH'S MERMAID IS DARK AND DECADENT, AND TRULY A DELIGHT TO READ."
Bookshelf Butterfly
"Great foggy film sets of Victorian atmosphere...deeply gothic."
Serendipity Reviews
‘This Dickensian-style novel is much darker and grittier than her first [THE SOMNAMBULIST]… It is not for the faint of heart, but neither is it gratuitous…Fox demonstrates a deep knowledge of the time, the setting and the dialogue [and] immerses us in the dreadful but compelling underworld of a not-so-distant past.’
MEGHAN WALSH GERARD
'Fox knocked the feet from under me and Elijah's Mermaid blew me away...I was hooked. I read the rest of Elijah's Mermaid in a state of frenzy. It was that good.'
THE BOOK LOVER'S BOUDOIR
'The plot is full of double-turns, vile characters and abusive relationships, like a hardcore Wilkie Collins. But Fox also writes with a pen of Mesmer, and this poisoned tale of hidden identity and bleak fates rattles along like a freshly oiled Hansom. Informative appendices provide notes on the real-world inspirations behind the characters and locations. Those intrigued by the life and work of Richard Dadd will be particularly gratified.'
The Londonist
"Enchanting, bewitching, mysterious and beautiful. Victoriana of an exquisite kind."
Lloyd Shepherd ~ author of The English Monster, and The Poisoned Island
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