A novel by E. M. Curnow COMING
Merryn at fifteen. Enys Vean, a night, the folded grey thing from the cave — and the choice between seeing what Siren truly is or letting her stay a seal. Tender, strange, never fully explained.
In Sealskin, Merryn is fifteen, old enough to know that Polperran’s stories are never only stories. On Enys Vean, in the hush between sea and stone, a folded grey skin and a closed door draw her towards a choice she cannot make lightly: to see what Siren truly is, or let her remain a seal. The mood is intimate, salt-dark and mysterious, with wonder held just out of reach.
Readers of twelve to fifteen will find a book that trusts them with uncertainty. E. M. Curnow’s prose has the lilt of a tale told near the tide, thoughtful enough for private reading and musical enough to share aloud. The peril is emotional and uncanny rather than sensational: a story of curiosity, loyalty and restraint, offering reassurance not by explaining everything, but by taking Merryn’s feelings seriously.
Within the Polperran novels, Sealskin lets long-time readers meet the village at a more searching age, where the familiar harbour-world opens onto older questions. It keeps faith with the shared Cornish setting — the sea, the islands, the rumours that cling to coves and kitchens — while standing as Merryn’s own quiet threshold story. For families following the age-banded series, it is a tender, strange step onwards.