The Fish Princess

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

A boat drifts ashore in a storm carrying a single passenger—a baby
girl, cooing songs of the sea. Most of the villagers are afraid of the
strange child, but an old fisherman is delighted to find a foster
granddaughter and carries her home. The girl, who loves the sea, grows
up with only her grandfather for a friend. He teaches her to fish and to
read the signs of the weather. After a lyrical but realistic beginning,
the story builds to a magical ending where love, loyalty, and kindness
are rewarded.

The Fish Princess draws upon legends from many lands, transforming them
all into something strange and new. Steve Mennie’s evocative
illustrations are as lyrical and dramatic as Irene Watts’s tale.
Paintings and story make a seamless match. Recommended.