Description
When Ellie Kellaway and her family seek a fresh start in the tranquil Peak District, she hopes to leave behind her haunting memories of the sea - and of Ethan's affair with the younger, beautiful wild swimmer he met there.
But Ellie's new home harbours dark secrets, where ancient legends of mermaids intertwine with chilling realities. As eerie occurrences unfurl, Libby, the youngest, is drawn to a grotesque mermaid carving hidden in their house. Strange sightings of a mysterious woman outside only deepen Ellie's unease. And when their dog Jasper goes missing, the family's descent into darkness accelerates.
As more ominous tales and truths rise to the surface, it becomes clear that the mermaid's curse might be real. Ellie's family is fast becoming entangled in a web of betrayal and vengeance, which threatens to drown them all...
This spine-tingling novel is a suspenseful twist on Hans Christian Andersen's dark tale The Little Mermaid, where love, loss, and the lure of the water collide in a terrifying crescendo.
Perfect for fans of The Last House on Needless Street and Stephen King.
A chilling and suspenseful thriller infused with mermaid lore, new for 2026
About the Author
Ava Morwood was raised in Penistone, South Yorkshire, and still lives locally in a house of creaking doors and crooked walls, with her partner Fergus. She loves exploring the hills and dales with her two hugely enthusiastic Dalmatians and has a penchant for books on folklore and weird history, Earl Grey tea and semicolons.
She has won the Shirley Jackson Award for Short Fiction, and her debut thriller The Cold Season, written under the name Alison Littlewood, was a R&J pick.
Reviews
PRAISE FOR UNTIL WE DROWN
'A slippery dreamlike psychological thriller woven through with folklore and otherworldliness, Until We Drown will have you gasping for breath before it lets you go. Bravo!' SARAH PINBOROUGH
'When folklore and reality collide; I will never look at a body of water in the same way again.' JACKIE KABLER
'Until We Drown haunts you for long after the final page. Dark and eerie, I found myself holding my breath on so many occasions!' NATALIE CHANDLER
'Ava Morwood bleeds the weird into the everyday. Morwood weaves old tales of thoughtless bargains and betrayals into a stylishly noir novel. Wonderful, haunting, and unexpected.' A.G. SLATTER
'I never wanted it to end. Enthralling, moving, both satisfyingly real and majestically imaginative. Superb.' S.P. MISKOWSKI
'A siren song that draws you willingly into a brutal, beautiful world of watery myths ... a perfect fairytale -- hypnotic, lyrical and ultimately horrific. I loved it, and I won't stop thinking about those last couple of chapters for a long time.' TIM LEBBON
'Full of twisting and delicious undercurrents.' PRIYA SHARMA
***
PRAISE FOR AVA MORWOOD'Exquisite, sharply observed prose brings out the eerie in the everyday, and makes the fantastical seem natural' CATRIONA WARD
'Dark but satisfying, like the best chocolate' ELLY GRIFFITHS
'Reads like a timeless classic of the genre' GUARDIAN
Book Information
ISBN 9780008724665
Author Ava Morwood
Format Hardback
Page Count 368
Imprint HarperNorth
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Weight(grams) 580g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 159mm * 36mm
