History Literature / TheMermaidsDaughter

* BeautifulSingingVoice: Fand had this gift. She passed it on to Kathleen's great-grandmother, Caolinn, who made a living singing at pubs, as well as Kathleen herself, an acclaimed soprano whose voice amazes everyone who hears it.

* BeautifulSingingVoice: Fand had this gift. She passed it on to Kathleen's great-grandmother, Caolinn, who a living singing at pubs, as well as Kathleen herself, an acclaimed soprano whose voice amazes everyone who hears it.

* PrinceCharmless: Fand's prince was a cruel man who became sexually obsessed with her and planned to keep her on as a concubine. After Fand left him and went inland (instead of turning into a daughter of air as in the story), he spent the next twenty years mistreating his family and the people in his court. When she finally returned, planning to kill him so she and her newborn daughter could turn into mermaids instead of living painful lives on land, the prince's first act was to try to rape her. Even after that, she still couldn't bring herself to kill him.

* BeautifulSingingVoice: Kathleen's voice amazes everyone who hears it. Her great-grandmother, Caolinn, had the same gift, which she used to make a living singing at pubs.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: During a master class, the world-famous soprano Ruzena tells Kathleen, "You are going to kill yourself. You will stab yourself, throw yourself into the sea." She's referring to the many tragic roles available to sopranos. She doesn't know Kathleen's mother Moira drowned herself in the ocean when she was a baby.

* SwitchingPOV: Kathleen, Harry, and Kathleen's father Robin take turns narrating, with the merfolk who helped Fand transform occasionally providing information about Kathleen's family history.

* LockedInAConvent: Caolinn and her lover, Marie, couldn't be open about their relationship in TheForties. They agreed that they would live together as spinsters and raise Caolinn's child together, until Marie's father forced her into a convent. They never saw each other again. Seventy years later, Kathleen and Harry meet Marie by chance at a pub, where Marie recognizes Kathleen's resemblance to Caolinn.

* DrivenToSuicide: Kathleen comes from a long line of women who all committed suicide when their daughters were babies. They all suffered from the same pain she does.

* InnocentlyInsensitive: During a master class, the world-famous soprano Ruzena tells Kathleen, "You are going to kill yourself. You will stab yourself, throw yourself into the sea." She's referring to the many tragic roles available to sopranos. She doesn't know Kathleen's mother drowned herself in the ocean when she was a baby.

Kathleen Conarn, an opera student living in Boston, suffers from mysterious chronic pain. Her whole life she's felt stabbing pain in her feet, and since she was sixteen she's felt bursts of pain in her mouth, like her tongue is being cut out. The only thing that really helps is being immersed in seawater. Kathleen starts hearing voices in the ocean telling her to "come home." When her girlfriend Harry Evans learns that Kathleen's mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all committed suicide, she decides that she and Kathleen should go to County Clare, Ireland, where Kathleen was born, hoping that if they can find out why Kathleen's ancestors committed suicide, she might avoid the same fate.

Kathleen Conarn, an opera student living in Boston, suffers from mysterious chronic pain. Her whole life she's felt stabbing pain in her feet, and since she was sixteen she's felt bursts of pain in her mouth, like her tongue is being cut out. The only thing that really helps is being immersed in seawater. Kathleen starts hearing voices in the ocean telling her to "come home." She and her girlfriend, Harry Evans, decide to travel to the town in Ireland where Kathleen was born.

* TwoPersonPoolParty: On vacation on Sanibel Island, Kathleen and Harry have sex in the hot tub.