When We Believed in Mermaids: A Novel

Content Warning: The source material for this guide includes descriptions of alcohol/drug addiction and recovery, the sexual assault of a child, suicidal ideation, abortion, and parental neglect.

Dr. Kit Bianci is taking a break from a busy night in the emergency room when she sees a news report concerning a fire in a nightclub in New Zealand. Kit thinks she sees her sister, Josie Bianci, walk behind the reporter, but her sister supposedly died 15 years prior when a terrorist group detonated a bomb on a train outside Paris, France.

Kit goes surfing after her shift, choosing to go to the cove where she grew up. Kit and Josie’s parents once owned a restaurant, Eden. Both Kit’s childhood home and the restaurant were perched on a cliff above the cove, but they were destroyed in the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Kit and Josie’s parents were passionate about the restaurant and each other but were neglectful parents.

At home, Kit receives a call from her mother. Kit’s mother, who is in recovery from alcohol addiction, lives nearby in a condo Kit bought for her. Kit’s mother saw the same news report and believes Josie is alive.