Republic of Love - Softcover

‘A novel that’s so engrossing it makes you want to retire to a squashy sofa until you reach the end. Vividly fresh...glittering and spangled with fabulous surprises.’ Sunday Times

"A novel that's so engrossing it makes you want to retire to a squashy sofa until you reach the end. Vividly fresh, glittering and spangled with fabulous surprises."
'Sunday Times'

Fay is a folklorist whose passion for mermaids provides her with a sense of continuity with the past. But is she in danger of using her passions to escape the present, of forsaking spontaneity for security? Tom is the host of a late-night radio show. Married and divorced three times before his fortieth birthday, he nevertheless hopes that next time around he will at last make the right choice.

"A hymn to the pleasures and pains, the raptures even of an unspectacular life. Shields sings with the charm of a true siren. In her hands, we believe, anything can happen."
'Guardian'

"Mythical and modern, ironic and moving, exhilarating and melancholy. A love-surveying love story that is enticingly seductive."
'Times Literary Supplement'

"Perfect fairy-tale material."
'Daily Telegraph'