An Amazon Charts, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller.
From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth.
Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news… years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It’s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. Her resemblance to Josie is unbelievable. And unmistakable. With it comes a flood of emotions—grief, loss, and anger—that Kit finally has a chance to put to rest: by finding the sister who’s been living a lie.
After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins her journey with the memories of the past: of days spent on the beach with Josie. Of a lost teenage boy who’d become part of their family. And of a trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives.
Now, if two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.
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There’s a reason Barbara O’Neal is one of the most decorated authors in fiction. With her trademark lyrical style, she’s written a page-turner of the first order. From the very first page, I was drawn into the drama and irresistibly teased along as layers of a family’s complicated past were artfully peeled away. Don’t miss this masterfully told story of sisters and secrets, damage and redemption, hope and healing.
One of the best books I’ve read in a long time–tragic, beautiful, haunting, and romantic. I was IN Josie and Kit’s world, thoroughly and completely. Barbara O’Neal is a new author to me, and her writing pulled me in from the very first sentence, which is –“My sister has been dead for nearly fifteen years when I see her on the TV news.” Now, that, my friends, is a great opener for this fabulous novel. Will be reading more of this author.
Barbara O’Neal can make any story sing with her lovely, lyrical writing. This book is one of her best.
Beautifully written. Tragically sad. A family pulled apart by addiction, secrets and loss. And yet, there is hope and sweetness, and love.
Once I started, I could put this book down. I stayed up way past my bedtime totally entrenched in this story with my heart breaking for both Kit and Josie. It brought tears to my eyes and made my heart sigh.
Highly recommend.
There are too many things to rave about here. Lush writing, as always with this author. You will feel transported to New Zealand, a place I think we must all go visit. You’ll be lulled into an intensely romantic subplot. You’ll have a front row seat to a bittersweet reunion filled with angst and hope and disappointment and love. This story is really set in two time periods, but is elegantly, artfully woven together by well-placed flashbacks that resonate so deeply. And the tragedies that befell this family, these sisters–wow.
I can’t (and wouldn’t want to try to) summarize the plot without spoiling the experience for you, so all I can say is go pick up this beautiful story of love, redemption, and forgiveness. You won’t be sorry, I promise.
I fall in love with every Barbara O’Neal novel
There is never a letdown for me with every story I read by this author. This novel is no exception. She has a way of building emotional response in me with her thoughts and words, gently caressing a slow tide of feelings, and building to a point that often has me murmuring out loud. It may sound a bit crazy but I have yet to read one of her books that has not given me these reactions. She is truly an artist, a weaver of words and a source of such original storylines and characters. I can’t wait to see what comes next.
If you are looking for a book to get wrapped up in, one with magically effortless writing and a plot that will whisk you away to a different place and time, this is the one.
Absolutely loved the hook in the beginning paragraphs and couldn’t wait to find out how it played out. I was not disappointed.
The characters are well-drawn and relatable, and contributed to the overall flow of the story. The author wove backstory in seamlessly, in a way that didn’t pull you out of the story, but drew you in further to better understand these two sisters and their background. Ms. O’Neal does a fabulous job of creating a setting and immersing us in the middle of the hot, humid shores of New Zealand.
When We Believed in Mermaids is a beautifully written, poignant story of the bond between sisters, a bond fifteen years couldn’t erase. I listened to the audiobook, and adored both narrators and Josie’s beautiful accent. Narrators can make or break a book (in my opinion) and these nailed it.
Well done.
Common wisdom and current headlines state the truth always comes out. Always. In this bestseller, when all the truth finally comes out, it is wrenching. It is also wonderfully freeing. Family secrets and lies tear the Bianci family apart but binds neglected and emotionally abused sisters Josie and Kit in a forever sisterhood. When Josie “dies” in a train wreck in France as a young adult, Kit is devastated. How the two sisters find each other again feels like a fairy tale, but the author kept me turning the pages. The darkest family secret threatens the fragile hope for forgiveness, but can a believer in mermaids ever stop believing?
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
The story weaves through the separate lives of 2 sisters trying to recover from a traumatic childhood and their fight to recover, and find life, love, trust and each other again. This touching well written book was an amazing read. I fell in love with each and every one of the characters and wanted to jump in the book and hug them. The writing was so good and the descriptions of the food and scenery made me feel like part of the story. The plot was so touching and had me in tears several times. I love books that make me feel, awaken my senses ….Touch my heart and soul. I would give this book a 10 if I could!
A must read and a joy to give this marvellous story a 5!
When We Believed in Mermaids: A Novel by Barbara O’Neal is an emotion-packed story of a family gone awry.
The Bianci home sat high on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the township of Eden, near San Francisco. The family restaurant was right next door. It would seem idyllic, but in this home there was always tension, always underlying currents of strife.
The youngest of two daughters, Kit, becomes an ER doctor in a Santa Cruz hospital where she capably treats the results of horrible accidents. In her spare time she surfs where she can lose herself as she glides over the water. She doesn’t have to think, to remember; she can just be one with the sea. One night while watching the evening news on TV, she sees coverage of a burning nightclub in Auckland, New Zealand, and thinks she sees her older sister, Josie, among the onlookers. It can’t be! Josie has been dead fifteen years, killed in a terrorist train explosion in France.
Mari is an exceptionally capable wife and mother. The family lives an opulent life in New Zealand with a beautiful home overlooking the sea. Her husband is a successful businessman, and her son and daughter are bright, well-adjusted children. Mari has a secret though and should it be revealed, the life she loves would disintegrate.
The story alternates between the two main characters, Kit and Mari, both in the same present-day time period, but with vivid and often painful flashbacks. I cringed when the children had unlimited freedom and were left to fend for themselves, I rode the waves when they surfed. I grieved with the pain caused by reckless lives.
When We Believed in Mermaids is a gripping, engrossing story of two sisters, their relationship with each other and with the family. It’s about successful people who allow their passions to rule. It’s about lives shattered by their own excesses. It’s also about the healing effects of love and forgiveness.
I loved everything about this book. In-depth character development and genuine sibling dynamics made this an oh-so-satisfying read for me. No rushed endings or unrealistic resolutions. The author makes you work for the ending the book deserves, and it’s well worth the journey.
What a journey this was. What a beautiful tale. The slow, easy lyricism sucked me inexorably toward the climax of a twisting, turning, tragic family saga that I will never forget.
Dr Kit Bianci, an ER doctor based in California, is shocked when a news commentary shows a close up of her sister Josie outside a night club fire in Auckland, New Zealand. Josie was believed to have died in a terrorist attack on a train, fifteen years previously.
The author skilfully weaves between the past and the present, as Kit travels to Auckland in search of her beloved sister. Kit is aided in her search by Javier, a handsome Spanish musician who is healing from his own heart wounds.
Kit and Josie’s story enfolds against a glorious background of stunning scenery, lush vegetation and a surfer’s paradise. Although the author deals with addiction and abuse issues, it is handled in a sensitive manner.
In the end, it focuses on whether the main characters can let go of the past and learn to forgive those they love?
Barbara O’Neal has been my favourite author for many years, with her early Barbara Samuel books on my keeper shelf, so it was utterly lovely to read this book and be transported back to her days of lush, poignant, evocative storytelling.
As the story unfolds, we learn many dark secrets of the Bianci family and discover what drove sisters Kit and Mari to be the people they are today.
I absolutely loved every nuance, every page, every wonderful description.
Not many books make me cry, this one did.
Devoured it in 2 scorching hot Melbourne days
When We Believed in Mermaids is a beautiful exploration of the bonds of sisterhood through tragedy, separation, time and fate. At its core, it’s a tale of love and family and forgiveness.
Highly recommended.
A story of tragedy and hope and the saving love of family
These characters stayed with me for days. I loved their connection to the ocean and surfing–and to each other. I commend the author for the way she allowed her characters to overcome their tragic childhood in ways unique to themselves and show the healing power of forgiveness.
In When We Believed in Mermaids, Barbara O’Neal draws us into the story with her crisp prose, well-drawn settings, and compelling characters, in whom we invest our hearts as we experience the full range of human emotion and, ultimately, celebrate their triumph over the past.
I loved this well-written, richly textured story. The descriptions and scenes were so vivid, it felt like I was there. All five senses were engaged – I could imagine how the food looked and tasted, how the scenery looked and sounded, how it felt to be there, and how it felt to be each of the main characters. I never wanted this book to end, and at the same time I wanted to rush through it to find out what happened next – and next – and next! Every time I read a book by this author I think, “Oh, this is the best book ever!” And then I read another one by the author – and fall in love with it too. I can’t recommend this book highly enough, and I can’t wait to read whatever the author publishes next.