YOU CAN'T FOOL A MERMAID

In Santamaria’s novel, a young musician prepares for the biggest concert of her life.

It’s 2004, and Violet Bacon is assiduously studying piano at Northwest Coast University, preparing to play the end-of-term concert—a difficult Stravinsky concerto. On a rainy afternoon, she ducks into Hector’s Piano Rescue, a charming, strange shop. While getting a tour from Hector himself, Violet sees her family’s beloved former piano, which she’d nicknamed “Bossy.” Through Hector’s kindness, and Violet’s willingness to offer piano lessons to drum up business for his store, Violet once again comes to own Bossy. While she’s stressed about many things (the upcoming concert, her overbearing father and absent mother, and relationship troubles with her girlfriend, Phoebe), she finds solace in Hector’s shop, Bossy, and a new kitten. As the concert nears, Violet continues to worry about her piano chops and about Phoebe, even questioning her orientation. Luckily, her eccentric friends, new and old, such as Hector, help her dive further into Stravinsky’s life to connect with both the Russian composer and the concerto itself. Santamaria’s LGBTQ+ novel has a dreamlike quality; the author shies away from most specificities, only naming and focusing on things that give Violet some sense of peace or have a special meaning to her, like Hector’s shop or the Jetty Cat Palace Café, where Violet adopted her cat. The writing style, the art and music, and the hints of magic, like Violet’s belief that she saw a mermaid in the gutter, give this novel an ethereal, charming quality, though the prose can be cliched (“Some say cats have nine lives. So does this place”). Still, Violet’s trajectory and hard-won musicianship will entrance readers.

An involving, intricate mix of music, art, and interpersonal drama.