The Old Mermaid's Tale

In 1959 the St.Lawrence Seaway opened to international commerce. The lives of the people in the towns surrounding the Great Lakes would never be the same. When Clair Wagner begins college in Port Presque Isle she dreams of meeting a handsome sailor with the constellations of the Northern Seas in his eyes, Into her life come three men: Pio, a handsome Italian fisherman, Gary, the dashing son of a wealthy shipping magnate, and Baptiste, a Breton mariner injured in a shipwreck who earns his living as a musician.With Pio, Clair discovers passion, with Gary she gains entry into the world of the commercial waterfront, and with Baptiste she discovers deep and all-consuming love. But as her relationship with Baptiste grows she discovers he is far more complex and mysterious than she could imagine. He has secrets and his secrets will alter her life forever. Filled with colorful characters and two cultures in conflict, The Old Mermaid's Tale weaves a lush romance, filled with folklore, legends, shipwrecks, violence, traditions, and enduring love, that pays homage to the role of storytelling in our lives. The soul, they say, is divine and the flesh is iniquity. But I am a musician and I ask this - without the wood and the strings of the violin, where would the sonata find form? - from the Prologue

Filled with colorful characters and two cultures in conflict, "The Old Mermaid's Tale" weaves a lush romance, filled with folklore, legends, shipwrecks, violence, traditions, and enduring love, that pays homage to the role of storytelling.