YOU CAN’T FOOL A MERMAID by Judy Keeslar Santamaria – Magical Realism, Family Saga, Self Discovery

You Can’t Fool a Mermaid by Judy Keeslar Santamaria is a glorious dance of well-intentioned ghosts. In the words of Violet, a twenty-one-year-old pianist, it’s “bewitching as hell.”

Santamaria opens with a tiny mermaid bodysurfing through the gutters of Seattle. College student and pianist Violet Bacon chalks up “gutter-mini-mermaid” to her wildly imaginative mind, but when she stumbles upon a magical theater-turned-piano-rescue with a retinue of shopkeeping cats, the separation between imagination and reality no longer seems as important as discovering her true self.

Violet has been living a lie: keeping up the pretense that she’s dating a woman to make her father angry. She reluctantly goes along with what other people want and pretends she doesn’t desperately need a cat. As she practices a complex Stravinsky concerto, her abiding love for music is all that sustains her.

But Hector Kouris, the proprietor of the theater-turned-rescue, reintroduces Violet to her childhood piano, Bossy.

The piano seems to speak to her through phantom notes in the days that follow. Santamaria deftly folds a menagerie of other companions into Violet’s life, living and inanimate: a friendly pigeon guide, a blue cat from the ocean, a mysterious and otherworldly busker who knows more than he should, and a patchwork-quilt tote bag that collects treasures leading to hidden truths.

With the help of this host of confidantes, Violet learns about not only her deceptive father, but the history of all those she loves. (Those who enjoyed Santamaria’s debut novel will be delighted to learn that the character Morgen from Jetty Cat Palace Café returns as Violet’s mentor.)

Motif after motif enters the story, first in ripples, then in rivers, until oceans of symbols haunt Violet’s life in a wild storm that sings, “to thine own self be true.” Santamaria’s expert handling of magical realism will leave you wondering what is real as she convinces you to just “go with the flow but be mindful.”

Santamaria guides readers to connect with the ghosts of their past just as Violet does, for people sometimes need to go backward before they can move forward.

At the center of Violet’s journey through family history lay a mysterious tragedy that occurred at the theater years ago. Violet learns secret after secret in a heart-wrenching crescendo until she finally discovers the spirit at the heart of this beautiful patchwork story. Readers will come away understanding that no one can escape their ancestry, but the way people respond determines whether the past is a prison cell or a key.

As part of Violet’s journey, Santamaria invites readers to explore many cultures and communities. Her handling of neurodivergence and disability is especially thoughtful.

This book is the perfect choice for anyone who enjoys cats, magical realism, a dash of romance, music, and characters who bravely face intergenerational trauma. It doesn’t allow any character to be singularly villainized, for all live in the shadow of their ancestors. If you were raised to doubt yourself but have since learned that you can’t fool your inner mermaid, this book might haunt you long after you finish reading it.