It has the feel of the nineteenth century but is definitely present day made clear by the technology referenced. I couldn’t quite tell at first if it was set in the present day or in a past era. Lorali reads with a dreamlike quality, both due to the writing style and the setting. Soon everyone from a nasty group of pirates to Lorali’s mother are searching for Lorali, but it is when the mer announce themselves to the human world that things get interesting.

Lorali is running from her home in the Whirl, far below in the sea. When Rory discovers a naked girl under the Hastings pier, he has no idea she has just emerged from the sea, transformed from a mermaid princess to human form. A mix of modern-day setting, bawdy pirate story and old-world writing style, Lorali reads like a twenty-first century, less humorous Pirates of the Caribbean. What are they really up to? Can Rory protect Lorali? And who from? And where does she really belong, anyway? My thoughts With beautifully coiffed hair, sharp-collared shirts and a pirate ship shaped like a Tudor house, the Abelgare boys are a mystery all of their own. Lorali has rejected life as a mermaid, and become human.īut along with Lorali’s arrival, and the freak weather suddenly battering the coast, more strange visitors begin appearing in Rory’s bemused Sussex town.

Lorali is running not just from the sea, not just from her position as princess, but her entire destiny. But more surprising than finding her in the first place is discovering where she has come from. Looking after a naked girl he found washed up under Hastings pier isn’t exactly how Rory had imagined spending his sixteenth birthday. Lorali – Laura Dockrill – Hot Key Books – Published 2 July 2015

Lorali by Laura Dockrill