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I was immediately hooked by Barbara O’Neal’s bestselling novel, When We Believed in Mermaids, about one woman’s search for the truth, and another’s desperate efforts to keep it hidden. Primarily set in New Zealand, the imagery is serene, and with its multiple references to surfing, the book is an ideal “beach read.”
My one complaint is O’Neal’s tendency to be a little heavy-handed on the romance angle, but largely the novel concerns itself with the themes of family, self-discovery, and the dangers that come from living a life built on the jagged edge of secrets and lies.
6 Standout Quotes from Barbara O’Neal’s
When We Believed In Mermaids
1. “This is why we have funerals. We desperately need to see the truth for ourselves, see that loved one’s face, even if it’s marred. Otherwise, it’s just too hard to believe.”
2. “The sound of the ocean keeps her calm. It’s the thing we share, that hunger, bone-deep, for the ocean. Nothing else will do.”
3. “Not everything is a disaster waiting to happen, I tell myself. Although, strictly speaking, it is.”
4. “I saw a Starbucks on my travels, but it seems kind of pathetic to visit a brand I know perfectly well when I’m seven thousand miles from home.”
5. “It’s lonely to carry a secret.”
6. “The human body is a delicate, amazing creation. It takes almost nothing to completely destroy it, and yet it takes a lot. Most of us manage to stay on the planet, in our bodies, for seventy or eighty years, all of us amassing scars along the way, each one with a story.”
Ready to read?