A hint of mermaids

Erin Palmisano's latest novel once again has food and romance at the heart of its well-plotted story.

- GILL SOUTH

In her second novel, American-Kiwi Erin Palmisano takes us to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The large estuary is famed for its terrific seafood, picturesque bays and historic waterfront towns and is a favourite weekend spot for Washingtonians. The story is set over one summer in the fictional small seaside town of Maiden's Cove at the beginning of its Festival of Lights. It is centred on a family restaurant, Cleary's Crab Shack, owned by the Cleary family for 75 years.

After the death of Tommy Cleary, who could never make the financial decisions necessary to keep the restaurant in the black, his daughter Grace has a mountain to climb when she returns from Phoenix, Arizona, with her 8-yearold daughter.