A Globe and Mail "Best Book of the Year" Two worlds collide when a mermaid and human man meet, plunging readers into a vast underwater realm brimming with adventure and intrigue.

The mermaid’s scales were bronze, and they shimmered like hundreds of pennies arranged close together. Her immense blue-green eyes gave a look of fragility to her face, yet he found her eyes unsettling. She was leaning against a thirty-foot-long shark, which emerged from behind her and opened its mouth to reveal a great big cavern lined with hundreds of teeth—a black tunnel ready to swallow him.

Coralline is a mermaid who is engaged to the merman of her dreams. But when an oil spill wreaks havoc on her idyllic village life, her little brother falls gravely ill. Desperate to save him, she embarks on a quest to find a legendary elixir made of starlight.

Izar, a human man, is on the cusp of an invention that will enable him to mine the depths of the ocean. His discovery will soon make him the richest man on earth—while threatening merpeople with extinction. But then, suddenly, Izar finds himself transformed into a merman and caught in a web of betrayal and intrigue. Meeting Coralline in the ocean, he decides to join her on her quest for the elixir, hoping it will turn him human again.

The quest pushes Coralline and Izar together, even though their worlds are at odds. Their pasts threaten to tear them apart, while a growing attraction adds to the danger. Ultimately, each of them faces an impossible choice. Should Coralline leave her fiancé for a man who might betray her? And Izar has a dark secret of his own—one that could cause him to lose Coralline forever.

Magnificent and moving, set against a breathtaking ocean landscape, The Oyster Thief is a richly imagined odyssey destined to become a classic.

Sonia Faruqi's profile page

Sonia Faruqi is the author of critically acclaimed Project Animal Farm. A masterful storyteller, she pushes the boundaries of imagination in her debut novel, The Oyster Thief. She lives in Toronto and her website is www.soniafaruqi.com.

Sonia Faruqi had me at the word 'mermaid.' The Oyster Thief creates a lush, imaginary underwater world that somehow manages to reinforce the reality of the need for environmental awareness—it’s unlike anything I’ve ever read. —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of 'A Spark of Light' and 'Small Great Things'

The world’s first ocean conservation novel. Faruqi possesses a unique ability to create a fantastical underwater world while tying in explicit scientific facts that reflect her background in investigative journalism. An entertaining and informative mix of ocean science and literary fiction.—Forbes

Ecologically informed but whimsically imagined. Adult fans of movies such as The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo will find Coralline’s adventures delightful, and Faruqi’s caricatured villains are satisfyingly hateful. —Publishers Weekly

A richly realized underwater tale set in Meristem in the central Atlantic Ocean. That is, until we reach the jewel at the novel’s center. Here Faruqi riffs on the importance of honoring your own radiance, and it truly shines.—The Toronto Star

The Oyster Thief deftly weaves a mermaid’s tale while bringing real and urgent ocean conservation issues to the reader’s attention. Dive in and enjoy! —Dr. Sylvia Earle, award-winning ocean scientist and National Geographic explorer-in-residence

Sonia Faruqi has created an imaginative, fast-paced adventure with a strong theme of ocean conservation. Bravo! May many read, and heed, its message.—Jonathan Balcombe, author of 'What a Fish Knows'

The Oyster Thief is a wildly imaginative journey on land and in the ocean that will have you anxiously turning pages late into the night to discover the fate of Coralline and Izar—and the underwater world itself. Beautifully written and emotionally complex. Anyone who is a fan of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game will fall in love with this novel. —Julie McElwain, author of 'A Murder in Time'

A fascinating novel that blends mermaid lore with social commentary on how we treat the environment.—Syfy Wire