Book Review: Ingo by Helen Dunmore

Hey guys! This book review was written by a guest reviewer, Emily. (You can follow her on Twitter here)

I wish I was away in Ingo, Far across the sea, Sailing over the deepest waters, Where love nor care can trouble me...
Sapphire's father mysteriously vanishes into the waves off the Cornwall coast where her family has always lived. She misses him terribly, and she longs to hear his spellbinding tales about the Mer, who live in the underwater kingdom of Ingo. Perhaps that is why she imagines herself being pulled like a magnet toward the sea. But when her brother, Conor, starts disappearing for hours on end, Sapphy starts to believe she might not be the only one who hears the call of the ocean.

I’ll start this review by saying that I hadn’t read any of Helen Dunmore’s books before, and to be completely honest I wouldn’t pick it off the shelf to read myself- but when my friend recommended it for me to read, I decided to give it a go. 

Ingo is the first book in a series of four books: Ingo; The Tide Knot; The Deep; and finally The Crossing of Ingo. Ingo by itself could easily stand alone as a book- but believe me, after finishing the first one you won’t want to stop. 

Originally, I assumed that the book was written for just a younger audience than myself (10-12 year olds instead of young adults). However, as I got further into the story, I was proved wrong; I would definitely say that it’s a novel for all ages.

The general plot of the book is around a character named Sapphire (also known as Saph) and her brother, Conor, who both enjoy life by the sea in Cornwall. They live a normal life with their Mum and Dad in a small cottage, however as the book goes on things start to change after their Dad takes out his boat ‘the Peggy Gordon’ late at night, goes missing. Things really start to turn upside down when Saph mistakes Faro, one of the Mer for her brother, she is immediately submerged into the whole world of Ingo, and discovers what generations of ancestors have been hiding. 

The book puts a twist on your average mermaid story, referring to the mermaid as ‘the Mer’ and you can’t help but want to leave the world behind and dive head first into Ingo.

I love this book because it is impossible to put down right from the start, and has a deep and interesting plot that will stay with you long after turning the last page.

-Emily