Erika Swyler author of The Book of Speculation

"Dazzling...[a] quirky, raucous, and bewitching family saga." --Sara Gruen, author of Water for ElephantsSimon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead. His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival.One June day, an old book arrives on Simon's doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who purchased it on speculation. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700's, who reports strange and magical things, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of "mermaids" in Simon's family have drowned--always on July 24, which is only weeks away.The Avid Reader show is sponsored by Wellington Square Bookshop in Chester County, PA. The Show airs Mondays at 5PM on WCHE AM 1520. Please visit our website at www.wellingtonsquarebooks.com