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Helen Dunmore, author of Zillah and Me and The Silver Bead, begins a trilogy for children with a novel that describes both an idyllic life, growing up beside the sea, and an undersea world of wonder and amazement with equal aplomb. It's not easy to imagine life under the waves, living and breathing amongst an ancient people without resorting to stereotypes. But Dunmore's original description throughout this book is one of its best qualities.
Set in Cornwall, Ingo is the story of Sapphire and her brother Conor, and what happens to them after their father mysteriously disappears at sea. Sapphire still thinks her father is alive. Somewhere. She remembers stories he used to tell her about a Mer creature who fell in love with a human, but could not come to live with him in the dry air.
The following summer, both Conor and Sapphire are inexorably drawn to the water, despite the worries of their mother. They love the water so much, and spend hours in the nearby cove. When Sapphire follows Conor one day, after he has been gone a long time, she meets Faro--a Merman who introduces her to Ingo, an underwater world she could only have dreamed existed. And Ingo blood runs deep through her veins and it is not long before the call of that other world becomes too strong to resist.
Dunmore is an accomplished writer for adults, she was the first winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, but her books for younger readers, despite having all the same qualities and powerful storytelling talent, have not been as critically or commercially successful. Ingo, however, is sure to change that perception. It is a beautiful novel, both enchanting and exciting, that appeals to readers on many levels. It is seductively easy to read and stays in the memory for a long time.
(Age 10 and over) --John McLay
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Set in Cornwall, Ingo is the story of Sapphire and her brother Conor, and what happens to them after their father mysteriously disappears at sea. Sapphire still thinks her father is alive. Somewhere. She remembers stories he used to tell her about a Mer creature who fell in love with a human, but could not come to live with him in the dry air.
The following summer, both Conor and Sapphire are inexorably drawn to the water, despite the worries of their mother. They love the water so much, and spend hours in the nearby cove. When Sapphire follows Conor one day, after he has been gone a long time, she meets Faro--a Merman who introduces her to Ingo, an underwater world she could only have dreamed existed. And Ingo blood runs deep through her veins and it is not long before the call of that other world becomes too strong to resist.
Dunmore is an accomplished writer for adults, she was the first winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction, but her books for younger readers, despite having all the same qualities and powerful storytelling talent, have not been as critically or commercially successful. Ingo, however, is sure to change that perception. It is a beautiful novel, both enchanting and exciting, that appeals to readers on many levels. It is seductively easy to read and stays in the memory for a long time.
(Age 10 and over) --John McLay
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
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Used availability for Helen Dunmore's Ingo
Hardback Editions
August 2006 : USA Library Binding
March 2006 : UK Hardback
September 2005 : UK Hardback
Paperback Editions
July 2012 : UK Paperback
March 2008 : Canada Mass Market Paperback
January 2008 : USA Paperback
May 2006 : UK Paperback
March 2007 : UK Paperback
2007 : UK Paperback

Title: Ingo
Author(s): Helen Dunmore
ISBN: 0-00-638573-7 / 978-0-00-638573-8 (UK edition)
Publisher: Harper Trophy
Availability: Amazon
August 2006 : USA Paperback
November 2005 : UK Paperback
Audio Editions
May 2015 : USA Audio edition

Title: Ingo
Author(s): Helen Dunmore, Kati Nicholl - abridger
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Availability: Amazon
May 2015 : UK Audio edition

Title: Ingo
Author(s): Helen Dunmore, Kati Nicholl - abridger
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Availability: Amazon UK
May 2012 : UK Audio CD
May 2006 : UK Audio CD
Kindle Editions
April 2017 : Australia, UK Kindle edition
November 2010 : Canada Kindle edition
January 2009 : USA Kindle edition