When We Believed in Mermaids

An Amazon Charts, Washington Post , Wall Street Journal , and USA Today bestseller. From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth. Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news… Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It’s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. Her resemblance to Josie is unbelievable. And unmistakable. With it comes a flood of emotions—grief, loss, and anger—that Kit finally has a chance to put to by finding the sister who’s been living a lie. After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins her journey with the memories of the of days spent on the beach with Josie. Of a lost teenage boy who’d become part of their family. And of a trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives. Now, if two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.

My Verdict

This is a story that is nuanced and insightful, heartbreaking and life affirming. It captures the essence of two souls, siblings who experience great tragedy in their youth and deal with it in very different ways. One becomes a successful physician while the other is content to disappear under horrific circumstances and construct a brand new life, one far away from California and everything she has ever known, even if that means leaving her sister behind for good. O’Neal writes as if she is creating a beautiful tapestry, weaving threads of her characters’ memories together one at a time, until they come together in a breathtaking work of art. And that’s what this story is.

O’Neal makes us examine our own youth through a different lens, to observe our parents and siblings as if through a kaleidoscope. One subtle turn transforms angels into demons, and in many ways, that is how the girls experience their lives. It is the subtle differences that ultimately create a chasm between them. Each has a unique story, even if they both grew up on the Pacific, surfing every opportunity they got, with parents who were admired by so many in a world that for most would seem like a golden life. But it wasn’t ever really that. Instead, it was a life plagued by abuse and addiction, one which marred the beauty and the possibilities of what should have been.

This was a quick, easy read for me. It was a good palate cleanser which I like after a couple heavy reads. I give this book 4 stars.