The release date for the English version of 'The Book of Speculation' by
Erika Swyler is Jun 2015. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
A young librarian named Simon Watson lives alone in a home that is gradually collapsing in the direction of Long Island Sound. His parents have passed away. His mother perished in the exact sea that his home looks out over. She was a circus mermaid who lived on holding her breath. Six years ago, his younger sister Enola ran away and is now employed as a tarot card reader for a travelling funfair.
Simon receives an ancient book on his doorstep one June day from an antique bookseller who bought it on the spur of the moment. The book, which is water-damaged and fragile, is a journal kept by a travelling funfair owner in the 1700s who describes odd and miraculous occurrences, such as a circus mermaid drowning. Since then, Simon's family has lost generations of "mermaids" to drowning—always on July 24, which is coming up soon.
Simon's buddy Alice watches in concern as he worries more and more about his sister. Is Simon's family cursed in any way? What connection does it have to the book, and will he be able to solve the puzzle in time to rescue Enola?
Erika Swyler's stirring first novel, The Book of Speculation, is a tale about the power of books, family, and magic. It is reminiscent of Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants, Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, and Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian. The book has two-color drawings by the author.