Eighteenth-century London, commerce and curiosity culture form the world of Imogen Hermes Gowar’s The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. Merchant Jonah Hancock is told that one of his ships has been exchanged for a mermaid, and the strange object draws him into the orbit of Angelica Neal, a courtesan trying to secure her future. The novel moves between counting houses, pleasure gardens and fashionable interiors while treating money and reputation as practical forces shaping both characters’ choices. Gowar’s prose is richly detailed and period-conscious, with a slightly uncanny edge but no need for a conventional fantasy world. Those characteristics place the books alongside The book Georgian historical fiction, literary historical novels and stories about commerce, desire and social mobility. Read more Less
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