The Tail of Emily Windsnap (2003) by Liz Kessler is the first in a series of children’s fantasy novels about a young half-mermaid girl struggling to accept her identity while fighting against the oppressive powers that forced her family apart. The Emily Windsnap books have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list and been translated into over 25 languages, with over 5 million copies sold worldwide. The Tail of Emily Windsnap was British author Liz Kessler’s debut novel, and she has written over 20 books for children and young adults, including When the World Was Ours (2008), based on her father’s childhood experiences during the Holocaust. She earned a bachelor’s in English from Loughborough University and a master’s degree in creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has worked as an English teacher and a journalist and currently lives in St. Ives, Cornwall.

This guide refers to the 2012 second US paperback edition of The Tail of Emily Windsnap, published by Candlewick.

Plot Summary

At the book’s outset, Emily lives on a boat with her mom, which she has always found strange because her mother fears the water. Emily has always wanted to learn to swim, but her mom refuses, using her own fear of the water as an excuse. At the start of seventh grade, Emily finally convinces her mom to let her take a swimming class. On the first day, Emily is nervous until she gets in the water, when she feels a sense of rightness. Though she’s never swum in her life, Emily immediately takes to the water, until a strange sensation in her legs terrifies her into getting out of the pool. Curious and uncertain, Emily goes for a swim that night after her mom is asleep and discovers she turns into a mermaid in the water.

Amazed at what she’s discovered, Emily goes out to the nearby Rainbow Rocks the following night, where she meets a full mermaid named Shona. Descriptions of Shona’s merfolk society make Emily long to be part of that world—it offers a sense of belonging Emily hasn’t felt anywhere else. Back home, Emily knows she must keep her mermaid nature a secret and is relieved when the school pool is closed due to budget cuts.

When Emily accompanies Shona to school, Emily learns that merfolk despise humans and part-merfolk, viewing relationships between merfolk and humans as wrong. Emily fears being discovered, but her friendship with Shona keeps her from running away. The girls learn about a massive shipwreck and look for it, finding a ship Emily’s mom once described from a dream. Emily tries to ask her mom about the ship and her dad, but her mom doesn’t remember.

The local lighthouse keeper, Mr. Beeston, tells Emily about her dad, describing him as an irresponsible womanizer who fled when he learned Emily’s mom was pregnant. Disheartened, Emily returns to the merfolk city, where she learns of a long-forgotten merman with her last name who was imprisoned for loving a human and having a daughter. Emily and Shona return to the shipwreck, where they find a chest full of files about Emily’s family and learn that Mr. Beeston has been spying on them for years. Emily’s dad is the forgotten merman and is being held prisoner by Neptune, the king of the merfolk.

The merfolk have a special drug that wipes memories that they’ve used to make Emily’s mom forget her husband. The drug doesn’t always work in proximity to merfolk areas, so Emily takes her mom to the beach near Rainbow Rocks. Her mom starts to remember but runs away in fear before all her memories return. Later, Emily discovers Mr. Beeston has been administering the drug and vows to make her mom realize the truth.

Alone on the boat one night, Emily tries to get to the prison where her dad is being held. Before she gets there, her mom and Mr. Beeston come after her, and Mr. Beeston reveals he is part merman and has been spying on them. Emily breaks into the prison and finds her dad, who promises he’ll find a way back to her and her mom. Back on the ship, Neptune’s guards capture Emily and her mom after being alerted by Mr. Beeston.

In Neptune’s court, Emily pleads her family’s case, saying they just want to be free to love each other. Neptune refuses to punish them for loving each other and releases Emily’s dad, sending the family to a remote island where merfolk-human families live in secret. Before she goes, Emily returns to her human school, where she shows off her tail, no longer afraid to be who she is. Afterward, Mr. Beeston wipes the students’ minds, and Emily goes to be with her parents, knowing her mermaid adventures are only beginning.