The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
One of BuzzFeed's Best Fiction Books of the Year
**Includes a bonus short story, The Mermaid Girl**In the tradition of Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants, Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, and Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, The Book of Speculation--with two-color illustrations by the author--is Erika Swyler's moving debut novel about the power of books, family, and magic.
Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead. His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival. One June day, an old book arrives on Simon's doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who purchased it on speculation. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of mermaids in Simon's family have drowned--always on July 24, which is only weeks away. As his friend Alice looks on with alarm, Simon becomes increasingly worried about his sister. Could there be a curse on Simon's family? What does it have to do with the book, and can he get to the heart of the mystery in time to save Enola?
ERIKA SWYLER is a New York University graduate. Her short fiction has published in publications such as WomenArts Quarterly Journal, Litro, and Anderbo.com. Her work as a dramatist has been recognized by the Jane Chambers Prize, and her writing has appeared in the book Colonial Comics. Erika grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, where she learned to swim before she could walk and gladly spent all of her money at itinerant carnivals. She writes a blog and has a 60,000-follower baking Tumblr.
Erika recently relocated from Brooklyn to her birthplace, which served as inspiration for the novel's setting. Her debut novel is The Book of Speculation.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781250055637 |
| ISBN 10 | 1250055636 |
| Title | The Book of Speculation |
| Author | Erika Swyler |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | St. Martin's Griffin |
| Year published | 2016-05-31 |
| Number of pages | 384 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |