The Ingo Chronicles - Ingo (The Ingo Chronicles, Book 1)

By Helen Dunmore

Stunning anniversary edition of this magical and award-winning novel – the first of the spellbinding Ingo Chronicles

Once there was a man who fell in love with a mermaid. He swam down into the sea to be with her, and was never seen again …

When Sapphire’s father is lost at sea, she can’t help thinking of the mermaid stories he told her when she was little.

Then Sapphy meets a new friend, Faro, who shows her Ingo, a magical underwater world where the Mer live.

As Sapphy spends more time below the waves, she becomes convinced she will find her father in Ingo, but will she have to give up the Air world for good?

Format: Paperback
Ageband: from 9
Release Date: 31 Jul 2025
Pages: 320
ISBN: 978-0-00-876564-4
Price: £8.99, £8.99 (Export Price) , €None
Helen Dunmore was an award-winning novelist, poet and children\'s writer, who will be remembered for the wisdom, lyricism, compassion and immersive beauty of her writing. In her lifetime, she published eight collections of poetry, many novels for both adults and children, and two collections of short stories. She won the Orange Prize for Fiction with her novel A Spell of Winter, her novel The Siege was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Whitbread Prize for Fiction, and her final poetry collection Inside the Wave won the 2017 Costa Book of the Year.

'As ever, Dunmore's characters are beautifully drawn… Though the first in a series, this book works perfectly as a standalone title, with a satisfying resolution but enough left hanging in the air to make the characters and situations live on in the reader's mind. Ingo has a haunting, dangerous beauty all of its own.' Philip Ardagh, Guardian -

'The electric thrill of swimming with dolphins, of racing along currents, and of leaving the world of reason and caution behind are described with glorious intensity.' Amanda Craig, The Times -

'Compellingly lyrical.' Independent -

'Helen Dunmore may have a few drowned readers on her conscience, so enticing and believable is the underwater world she creates in Ingo.' Telegraph -

'Helen Dunmore is an exceptional and versatile writer and she writes with a restrained, sensual grace.' Observer -

'A remarkable fantasy… It's a haunting, beautifully written book which creates a totally believable parallel world.' Northern Echo -

'Ingo is an intoxicating adventure… Wonderful, evocative storytelling.' Publishing News -

'An enchanting, modern twist on the Hans Christian Anderson story of the little mermaid… The marine imagery gives the story a wonderful sprinkling of the nautical and the magical.' Telegraph -

'A tense, well-plotted story… Dunmore's sense of place, of the natural world, is particularly evocative.' Irish Sunday Independent -

'Loss and language are poetically blended.' Irish Times -

'The under-the-sea imagery is elegantly handled… Altogether a thoughtful book with emotional resonance.' Carousel -