Aquamarine is a novel by Alice Hoffman in 2001.
Best friends Claire and Hailey are spending their last few days of summer at the very isolated Capri Beach Club, which was once a happening spot but is now run-down, abandoned, and about to be torn down. On top of that, Claire only has a few days before she and her grandparents move to Florida. One night, a storm hits, and Claire and Hailey discover it's brought something into the pool: a mermaid!
Was adapted into a film in 2007. See Aquamarine for tropes related to that.
Tropes:
- Abandoned Area: The Capri Beach Club is pretty much this. The only person still working there is Raymond, and the only two people who come there are Claire and Hailey. The owners plan to have it bulldozed after that summer.
- An Aesop: Life moves on and friends move away but that doesn't mean the end of the friendship.
- Childhood Memory Demolition Team: The incoming demolition of the Capri Beach Club weighs heavily on Claire and Hailey, as it will be destroyed at the same time their last summer together ends. Hailey stays to actually watch it be demolished but changes her mind not to take a picture to show Claire so she can remember it how it was.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Claire lives with her grandparents after her parents died in some form of accident.
- Innocent Fanservice Girl: Aquamarine covers herself with her long hair and is noted to not be wearing any clothing.
- Interspecies Romance: Aquamarine a mermaid has a crush on Raymond a human.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Aquamarine is the youngest of seven mermaid sisters.
- Mermaid in a Wheelchair: Claire and Hailey borrow a wheelchair from Claire's grandfather so Aquamarine can leave the pool and go on a date with human boy Raymond. Notably, this was absent from the adaptation, where she could grow legs.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: Mermaids like Aquamarine can stay out of water for short periods of time but will dissolve into green sea foam.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Claire and Hailey are best friends and really don't want to be separated, to the point that Hailey insists she won't even TALK to the new neighbor girl, unless there's a fire or something.
- Shout-Out: Aquamarine being the youngest of Massive Numbered Siblings is one to The Little Mermaid, who was also one.
