Kate
I'm the last mermaid. I'm back on shores of Lake Erie, but the cold waters are silent. There is nothing here for me but ghosts and the beach glass that litters the rocky shore. Long ago, I lived below the waves. Now, I am the sole survivor, and at long last, my mermaid glamour is leaving me. Every day, I walk the beach. Every day, I wonder what happened to my people. The little pieces of colored glass that wash ashore give me simple pleasure. They are gifts from the lake, reminders of home. I fashion them into trinkets: necklaces, earrings, bracelets. They are beautiful things. The humans seem love them. Every day, I walk the beach. Nothing ever changes, until the day he says hello.
Cooper
I'm dying. It's not a question, it's a fact. The cancer is eating me alive. They told me I have six months to live, maybe less. I came home, back to Chancellor on Lake Erie, to die. The sunsets are vivid there, and I will relish every one. I've never seen anything more beautiful than a Lake Erie sunset until I see her. All life is as fragile as glass. What would you sacrifice to save the one you love?
My Thoughts:
This is a sweet, feel-good story. I played it on audio book while cleaning, and the shorter length of the novella really helped pass the time. In the town of Chancellor, old myths and legends still exist, hidden away. This story follows Kate, the last mermaid of Lake Erie, as she comes to terms with how long she has outlived her kind and her dealing with her grief to do with her part in their demise.
Cooper returns home to live the last of his life in his childhood home, but when he meets Kate, he finds a reason to fight.
I love how each character strengthened and uplifted the other, even when they didn't know the pain the other was going through. I very much enjoyed this book.
