Ghosts are beguiling creatures, but sitting with them in a room day after day is tough. Ghosts from the past had inspired all my stories: A Northern Light, Revolution, and the Rose books, and I was grateful to them, but I needed to get away from them. I’d written five historical novels and I wanted to do something new. Which is a terrifying thing for a writer. Two years ago, I was casting about for a new idea for a novel, and I was coming up dry.

If it was made by the late Alexander McQueen, then quite possibly yes. Together they will form an unbreakable bond of sisterhood as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens their world’s very existence. Their search will lead them to other mermaid heroines scattered across the six seas.

Now she and Neela must embark on a quest to find the assassin’s master and prevent a war between mer nations. The realm falls into chaos, and Serafina’s darkest premonitions are confirmed. The Dokimi proceeds, a dazzling display of majesty and might, until a shocking turn of events interrupts it: an assassin’s arrow wounds Isabella.

Most of all, she worries about not living up to her mother’s hopes. But her nightmare is forgotten the next day as she diligently practices her songspell eagerly anticipates a reunion with her best friend, Neela and anxiously worries about Mahdi, the crown prince of Matali, and whether his feelings toward her and their future betrothal have changed. One the eve of her Dokimi ceremony, which will determine if she is worthy of the crown, Sera is haunted by a strange dream that foretells the return of an ancient evil. Serafina, daughter of Isabella, Queen of Miromara, has been raised with the expectation – and burden – that she will someday become the ruler of the oldest civilization of the merfolk. One the eve of her Dokimi ceremony, which will determine if she is worthy of the crown, Serafina is haunted by a strange dream that foretells the return of an ancient evil.

Jennifer donnelly waterfire saga books