Mermaids are the most liminal of beings: their hybrid bodies reveal the connections between different elements (earth and water), disparate peoples and distant places. As creatures from the oceans and waters between things, they often result from encounters with otherness – the fear and the yearning, transformations and instability that they create. They’re personifications of the medium of life itself, and there’s often something dragonish about them – fateful and elemental, but also incredibly malleable to different artistic agendas.

What it is it exactly that the hybrid natures of mermaids and mermen do for our imaginations? In this richly illustrated treasury, Dr Natalie Lawrence brings together writings and imagery from across the centuries and around the globe to reveal the different cultural roles and mythologies of the mermaid.

The book opens with a history of merfolk imagery, some of the key meanings through history and their role in our culture today, as well as the global diversity of mermaid imagery. Each section of the book then focuses on a particular region: Europe, Africa, Asia, Americas and Australasia, with a selection of the mermaid stories or texts in each. These are introduced individually – highlighting their cultural role, meanings and context – and selected to represent different facets of the mermaid mythology/imagery of the region. Some stories exist already in texts; others from more oral or diverse cultures will be rewritten by Natalie.

Illustrated with beautiful contemporary images and hand-drawn illustrations by the author herself, this highly enjoyable yet insightful collection of mermaid literature and tales gives us a worldwide perspective on the visual and verbal elements of mermaid culture.