The Mermaid Chair is a work of fiction. The story, the characters, and the setting come purely from my imagination.
I’ve imagined Egret Island as part of the beautiful necklace of barrier islands along the coast of South Carolina, but you will not find the island on a map. It’s not a real place. Nevertheless, it’s similar to existing South Carolina islands when it comes to its beach, maritime forest, tidal marshes, estuaries, creeks, birds, and animals. I drew on numerous natural history and nature guidebooks; Todd Ballantine’s Tideland Treasure was particularly useful. All the plants, trees, and flora referred to in the book are real, though I took the liberty of inventing one fictitious plant that you will be able to distinguish in retrospect.
I’ve explored numerous barrier islands in South Carolina, but it was Bull Island—an uninhabited and pristine place—that was often in the back of my mind as I wrote. Not only did I position Egret Island geographically where Bull Island is located on South Carolina’s coastline, I also borrowed the name of Bull Island’s magnificent beach: Bone Yard.
St. Eudoria is not a real saint in the Catholic Church, as far as I know, though I based her story on accounts of saints who mutilated their bodies in the pursuit of holiness.
The legend of Sedna is a genuine Native American tale from the Inuit people, which has several variations. In recounting the story in the novel, I’ve attempted to be true to its source.
The monastery of St. Senara is nonexistent. In writing about it I’ve relied on a list of books too long to enumerate and on my years of study of contemplative spirituality and the monastic life.
The Gullah culture, which is referred to in the novel, is a distinct heritage belonging to African-American descendants of slaves who settled along the southeast coast. The culture contains its own customs, food, art, and language, some of which appear in the novel. The Gullah phrases that I’ve used are part of the Gullah language still spoken in parts of South Carolina. I’m indebted to the wonderful book Gullah Cultural Legacies by Emory S. Campbell.
This novel began one summer day in 2001 when my friend Cheri Tyree mentioned that she’d seen a “mermaid chair” during a visit to England. I’m deeply grateful to her for this chance comment, which led me to the chair that sits in St. Senara Church in the ancient village of Zennor, in the beautiful and magical land of Cornwall. The chair is made from two fifteenth-century bench ends, one of which is carved with a mysterious mermaid. The carving is associated with the fabled Mermaid of Zennor, who fell in love with one of the church’s choristers, then lured him into the sea.
Little historical information is available about St. Senara, the saint for whom the Cornish church is named, but I was intrigued by a legend suggesting that before Senara’s conversion, she was a Celtic princess named Asenora.
Armed with these two morsels of inspiration—the historical mermaid chair and the bit of lore about Senara and Asenora—I began to weave my own story. I created a distinctly different mermaid chair for the novel—different in appearance, in history, and in the mythology that surrounds it—though I did use some fragments from the Mermaid of Zennor myth. I am indebted and grateful to St. Senara Church in Cornwall, for without its famous chair, this novel could not have been written.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge two books that became my companions as I immersed myself in the symbolism, mythology, art, and history of mermaids: Sirens by Meri Lao and Mermaids, compiled by Elizabeth Ratisseau.