The Mermaid Chair

Praise for
The Mermaid Chair

“Book clubs, start your engines. Sue Monk Kidd’s first novel,
The Secret Life of
Bees
, has sold three million copies since 2002. . . . Those are big shoes to fill, but Kidd acquits herself admirably with
The Mermaid Chair
. . . . Both novels drip with vivid images of hot Southern afternoons, droning insects, swooping birds and oases in which nature is the fabric of life. It is a tapestry strengthened by bonds between women that bridge pain and loss. Most important, both have passages of beautiful writing. . . . Kidd wrote two well-received memoirs before turning to fiction. But perhaps the answer ultimately given by
The Mermaid Chair
is that a storyteller also can change course and come of age in the middle of her life.”

—
USA Today

“Her writing is so smart and sharp, she gives new life to old midlife crises, and she draws connections from the feminine to the divine to the erotic that a lesser writer wouldn’t see, and might not have the guts to follow.”

—
Time

“(A) rewarding second novel by the author of the bestselling
The Secret Life of Bees
.

Writing from the perspective of conflicted, discontented Jessie, Kidd achieves a bold intensity and complexity that wasn’t possible in
The Secret Life of Bees
, narrated by teenage Lily. Jessie’s efforts to cope with marital stagnation; Whit’s crisis of faith; and Nelle’s tormented reckoning with the past will resonate with many readers. This emotionally rich novel, full of sultry, magical descriptions of life in the South, is . . . another hit for Kidd.”

—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Compelling reading . . . The writing is soulful in its probing of the human heart and family secrets.”

—
San Francisco Chronicle

“Secrets are told. Mysteries are revealed. In one rich and satisfying gush . . . Jessie reevaluates just about every aspect of her life: her husband, her lover, her mother, her artwork, the death of her father decades ago, and most of all herself. . . .

Rewarding.”

—
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“If [
The Secret Life of
]
Bees
was a girl’s coming-of-age novel, [
The Mermaid
]
Chair
is a woman’s coming-of-middle-age novel. . . . The prose thrilled me. Kidd can really turn a phrase and her descriptions of nature’s archetypal elements are magnificent.”

—
The Philadelphia Inquirer

“A woman at life’s crossroads, a parent’s tragic death and a strong, if eccentric circle of women. Stir in a forbidden love, and the pages all but turn themselves.”

—
Parade

“Kidd grabs you from the first sentence of
The Mermaid Chair
. It is a satisfying tale that balances Southern gothic . . . [with] wish-fulfillment romance and a down-to-earth dissection of family problems. Sue Monk Kidd is a high-end practitioner of Ya-Ya-ism, with a lucid prose style and a fine sense of story. . . . A good read.”

—
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Richly rewarding.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“Kidd’s second offering is just as gracefully written as her first and possesses an equally compelling story. It should appeal to the many readers who made her first novel a hit with book clubs.”

—
Booklist

“Fans of Sue Monk Kidd’s bestselling debut novel,
The Secret Life of Bees
, will be equally enamored with her beguiling . . .
The Mermaid Chair
. . . . Reconciling the spiritual with the human,
The Mermaid Chair
is a captivating metaphorical and sensual journey into one woman’s soul. Weaving enduring folklore about the se-ductive and transformative power of mermaids into a modern-day tale of rebirth, the novel shows us that sometimes we need to swim out to sea for the currents to carry us back home.”

—
BookPage

“A well-told tale about marriage, mystery—and mermaids. . . . Kidd writes at a deeper emotional level than she did in the fabulously popular
Bees
. Her characters are more tormented, more complex, in their processes of coming unwound and then healing. . . . Yet it is also a quite powerful feminist statement, and can be savored strictly on the basis of Kidd’s beautiful use of language. . . .
The Mermaid
Chair
is a multidimensional pleasure.”

—
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“Kidd’s greatest strength as a writer is her sensuous, evocative prose. Egret Island is alive with its scent of salted air, old crab pots, bulling gumbo. The novel is also full, dense with symbolism, from the recurrent motif of the mermaid, diving deep and surfacing, to images of baptism, birds, rebirth. And Kidd continues to empha-size her central insights into the power of secrets to fester, the healing force of honesty and the significance of communities of independent but interwoven women, open to reconfigured rituals of grace. . . . Kidd suggests that to merge body and soul just might enlarge a sense of what it is to be religious and to be married.”

—
Pittsburgh Post Gazette

“[Kidd’s] imagination, originality and command of language never cease. She is simply a profound storyteller.”

—
The Denver Post

“Kidd draws on her extensive knowledge of theology and mythology in this in-sightful book about the passions and desires of body and soul. Kidd . . . slowly and carefully unveils her story about the meaning of love, the necessity of risk, and the power of forgiveness.”

—
Orlando Sentinel

“The steady pulse of Kidd’s writing pushes this narrative from heart-throbber to soul-searcher.”

—
Boston Herald

“Kidd’s sparkling imagery in
The Mermaid Chair
surpasses her efforts in [
The Secret Life of
]
Bees
and helps morph a simple story into something approaching myth. . . . What keeps Kidd . . . flying high is her abiding sense of humor (her characters are really ‘characters’), an earthbound understanding of the ebb and flow of life, and her studious attention to the great metaphors of life.”

—
Santa Cruz Sentinel

“This lush follow-up finds Kidd asking even bigger questions with the story of a woman whose life and marriage have grown increasingly stale.”

—
Breathe

“[An] illuminating investigation of midlife malaise . . .
The Mermaid Chair
honors those who conjure up the courage to rediscover and recommit to their life passions.”

—
The Seattle Times

“No question: Kidd can write.”

—
The San Diego Union-Tribune

“Those who fell in love with Kidd’s first novel will find pleasure here.”

—
The Oregonian

“It takes a rare and mysterious novel to speak to our souls in so many ways that we return to the book again and again for refreshment and renewal. Sue Monk Kidd created that kind of magic in
The Secret Life of Bees
, and her new novel promises to have the same effect. . . .
The Mermaid Chair
will lure you into its warm embrace if you have experienced a deep sense of loss in your life that will not let you go. It will appeal to your yearning for a close encounter with grace. It will enchant that secret part of you that loves mermaids and saints. It will touch all those who struggle with the Sacred Feminine in all her incarnations.”

—
Spirituality and Health Review

“As a stylist, Kidd is in firm command of her subject. She crafts the Low Country as still life, with impressionistic beauty, complete with Gullah denizens. . . .
The Mermaid Chair
provides more than the easy reach for casual readers, for underlying the woman-come-home plot, Kidd provides depth to her characters through thematic contradictions: spirituality versus the erotic, Christian versus mythological, new life through death, ultimately reconciling this writer's overall credo: There is no happiness or spiritual contentment without an appreciation for emptiness and the necessary experience of hell. . . .
The Mermaid Chair
exceeds Kidd’s first novel both in scope and in depth. While it is darker in tone, deeper with dysfunction, Kidd reprises the old techniques. She textures her novel with complex characters, rich imagery and seamless symbolism. . . .
The Mermaid Chair
proves her versatility as a storyteller, her devotion to craft and a heart for the genuine character.”

—
The Post & Courier
(Charleston)

sigrid estrada

©

penguin books

T H E M E R M A I D C H A I R

Sue Monk Kidd’s first novel,
The Secret Life of Bees
, spent more than one hundred weeks on the
New York Times
bestseller list, has sold more than four million copies, and was chosen as the 2004 BookSense Paperback Book of the Year and
Good
Morning America’
s “Read This!” Book Club pick. She is also the author of several acclaimed memoirs and the recipient of numerous awards, including a Poets & Writers Award. Her second novel,
The Mermaid Chair
, a #1
New York Times
bestseller, won the 2005 Quill Book Award for Best General Fiction. She lives near Charleston, South Carolina.