The Tail of Emily Windsnap

A young girl learns she's half mermaid and plunges into a scheme to reunite with her father in this entrancing, satisfying tale that beckons readers far below the waves. For as long as she can remember, twelve-year-old Emily Windsnap has lived on a boat. And, oddly enough, for just as long, her mother has seemed anxious to keep Emily away from the water. But when Mom finally agrees to let her take swimming lessons, Emily makes a startling discovery about her own identity, the mysterious father she's never met, and the thrilling possibilities and perils shimmering deep below the water's surface. With a sure sense of suspense and richly imaginative details, first-time author Liz Kessler lures us into a glorious undersea world where mermaids study shipwrecks at school and Neptune rules with an iron trident an enchanting fantasy about family secrets, loyal friendship, and the convention-defying power of love.

Liz Kessler lives on a canal boat in rural Cheshire, England, and has worked as a teacher, journalist, and editorial consultant. She says she first knew she wanted to become a writer at the age of nine, when she had a poem published in a local newspaper. THE TAIL OF EMILY WINDSNAP, her first children’s book, grew out of a poem she wrote about a mermaid.