Age 10+

This is the third but not the last book in Helen Dunmore’s Ingo series about Sapphy and her brother Connor who discovered, in an earlier volume, that they are part Mer, and that their absent father left their mother to return to the sea where he has a new wife and a Merbaby.

In this instalment, Sapphy revisits the Mer realm and finds a new responsibility: accompanied by her brother, and her handsome Merboy friend, she has to face down the evil Kraken that threatens the Mer world and her own. Dunmore’s series is written in a sensual, descriptive prose that evokes the watery kingdom with conviction. She reworks folklore as well as vividly portraying Cornwall in the wake of a flood and such details as the ashes of a bonfire on a beach or the demeanour of a devoted dog. Characters are clear-cut and written with exuberance, including the Kraken as a sneery sinister villain, and a motherly whale.

The book is also insightful about the emotions of stepfamilies, political conflict (as expressed in Mer society), and teenagers’ wish for independence.

THE DEEP by Helen Dunmore

(Collins £12.99)

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