Product Description

A spellbinding magical adventure. Master storyteller Helen Dunmore writes the story of Sapphire and her brother Conor, and their discovery of INGO, a powerful and exciting world under the sea. You'll find the mermaid of Zennor inside Zennor church. She fell in love with a human, but she was a Mer creature and so she couldn't come to live with him up in the dry air. She swam up the stream to hear him sing, then one day he swam down it and was never seen again. He became one of the Mer people! Sapphire's father told her that story when she was little. When he is lost at sea she can't help but think of that old myth; she's convinced he's still alive. The following summer her brother Conor keeps disappearing for hours on end. She goes to the cove to find him, but instead meets Faro, an enigmatic and intriguing Merman. He takes her to Ingo and introduces her to a world she never knew existed. She must let go of all her Air thoughts and embrace the sea and all things Mer. After her first visit she is entranced -- merely the sound of running water makes her yearn to be in Ingo once more. Ingo blood runs strongly in Sapphy and Conor fears she will leave the Air world for good. He pleads with her to ignore her craving for the sea and stay safely in their cottage up on the cliff. But not only is Sapphy intoxicated by the Mer world, she longs to see her father once more. And she's sure she can hear him singing across the water! "I wish I was away in Ingo Far across the briny sea!"

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10466 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
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

Review
"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

About the Author
Helen Dunmore is an award-winning novelist and poet as well as a children's writer. She has published eight collections of poetry, and has written nine novels and two collections of short stories. She has won the Orange Prize for Fiction with her novel A Spell of Winter, and her novel The Siege was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Whitbread Prize for Fiction and was serialised on BBC Radio 4. Her latest novel, Counting the Stars, is published in February 2008.

Customer Reviews

Ingo by Helen Dunmore
Ingo is an underwater world discovered by Sapphire and her brother, Conor. They live in Cornwall with their mother and father, enjoying the perfect life they live, swimming, surfing and exploring the sea.

However, when their father goes missing, and Conor starts disappearing for hours on end down by the rocks, everything seems strange until Sapphire finds Ingo-an exiting but dangerous world beneath the waves.

Sapphire and Conor also meet Faro and Elvira, two mer-people who live in the sea. They introduce Sapphire and Conor to their world.


This first book of the Ingo series spans over a year. It is unusual, and full of excitement and danger. Throughout the book it got more and more mysterious.
It began with a sudden struck of excitement, and then a discovery. It had an unfinished ending, which made you want to know more.

Characters

The main characters are Sapphire and Conor. They are friendly and cheerful children, but since their father disappeared, they became quieter and more unexplained.

Sapphire is a sensitive and devoted girl. She is hopeful, and wouldn't give up her dreams. Although she worries, she fights for what she thinks is right.

Conor is calmer than Sapphire, although he is a hard worker. He enjoys his life in Cornwall, but he knows not to hope for something that is not going to happen.



This book is written in first person (Sapphire). This shows her emotions and feelings in depth, and shows her opinion, which is important to the story.

This was an excellent story, which I would recommend to any girls who like mystery, adventure and the sea!

After I read this book, it made me look at a lot of things in a different way. It was a very moving story.

Better than the most popular of teen fiction!
I got this book a few years back, and read it in one sitting, and again many times since. It's written beautifully, and the setting and characters built up so intricately that I was inspired. Within the first chapter, I was a little confused as to where the story was going, and whether it was aimed at a younger audience, but don't give up - keep reading, and when you finish, the opening chapters will have a whole new meaning. Even though I'm 18 now and probably older than the expected audience (!) I still feel that the whole world is completely believeable, and the review on the cover is true, "there'll be drowned readers on Dunmore's conscience" - it's that perfectly written!

I would recommend this book to anyone - i think adults would enjoy it just as much as children or teens because you can see the subtle themes and character relationships.

This series should be more well known, the writing is far better than most of the much more popular children/teen fiction out there... one word of caution: once you've read it, you'll be entranced for life :D

An imaginative and beautifully written story - children's writing at its very finest
I bought this book for my seven year-old daughter, having read a couple of Dunmore's adult titles and knowing quite well the part of Cornwall in which the story is set. The book is an unmitigated joy: utterly captivating and - here is its genius - believable in a way that, say Harry Potter is not. Sapphy and Conor's entry in to the magical world of Ingo, the marine world that lies just off of the cove near their home, is told so imaginatively, yet credibly, that one cannot fail but to be drawn in to the story. The one problem with the book is that it is so gripping, is such a page-turner, that getting my daughter to put the book down and switch her light off at bedtime became even more difficult than normal.
Perhaps the strongest proof of the power of Dunmore's story-telling is that we have just returned from a Cornish holiday during which my daughter wanted to visit Zennor,try to find the cove, and see if she could find Faro and Elvira, the Mer-people, for herself. Perhaps, just perhaps, those silhouettes we could see at the foot of the rocky headland were them.....who knows! Buy this book, neither you nor your children will regret it.