Seagirl

"Seagirl" by H. L. Blake is a young adult realistic fiction novel with fantasy elements."First: She had not drowned; her mother had.

Second: It had been her idea. Third: The secret longing. Hard to explain, impossible to explain really, but even more impossible to stop feeling." Serena's story begins with a death and ends with a choice to live.

Her mother has drowned by the story's opening, and Serena blames herself.

Her choice remains what she will do now - if she will continue to search for her mother in the depths and darkness, or follow in the wake of her largely absent father, or somehow find her own way back to the surface of light and life.

Serena treads water and struggles for survival, fighting for every breath, until an unexpected hand reaches out to help.

She is reluctantly won over by the insistent friendship of Dylan and his adopted sister Ellie, whose kindred understanding of grief helps her overcome her own.

Weaving through the narrative is a thread of realistic fantasy, the myths of selkies and mermaids hinted at the edges of the story and reflecting the themes of loss and love.

In the end, Serena must face her nightmares on a return trip to the ocean she once loved.

Only then is she able to fight her way through and make her ultimate decision - to stay, live, love - or leave.