Waiting on Wednesday: Lost Voices

 "Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases.

Among some of the recent mystical characters in young adult literature, there seems to be a renewed interest in books featuring mermaids. Although I haven't read any, The Mermaid's Pendant aside and that wasn't YA, an upcoming debut that got my attention is Lost Voices from author Sarah Porter. It's the first of a trilogy- what isn't these days- but I love the vivid imagery in the synopsis and I can only hope that the book offers more of the same.

What happens to the girls nobody sees—the ones who are ignored, mistreated, hidden away? The girls nobody hears when they cry for help?

Fourteen-year-old Luce is one of those lost girls. After her father vanishes in a storm at sea, she is stuck in a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village with her alcoholic uncle. When her uncle crosses an unspeakable line, Luce reaches the depths of despair. Abandoned on the cliffs near her home, she expects to die when she tumbles to the icy, churning waves below. Instead, she undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid.

A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. The mermaids are beautiful, free, and ageless, and Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: they feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks.

Luce’s own talent at singing captures the attention of the tribe’s queen, the fierce and elegant Catarina, and Luce soon finds herself pressured to join in committing mass murder. Luce’s struggle to retain her inner humanity puts her at odds with her friends; even worse, Catarina seems to regard Luce as a potential rival. But the appearance of a devious new mermaid brings a real threat to Catarina’s leadership and endangers the very existence of the tribe. Can Luce find the courage to challenge the newcomer, even at the risk of becoming rejected and alone once again?

Lost Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive. 

Lost Voices will be published July 4th 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's.

Has anyone read any recent literature featuring mermaids? Forgive My Fins and Fins Are Forever both by Terra Lynn Childs immediately come to mind but I'm curious to hear what people think and if there are any particularly good ones out there. Are you Waiting on anything this Wednesday?