The Rathbones by Janice Clark

In the whaling town of Naiwayonk, Connecticut in 1859, a young girl, Mercy Rathbone, sets out on a voyage to discover the story of her family's mysterious past. From that simple beginning, proceeds a tale that is very strange, to say the least. It's part mystery, part fantasy, part fairy tale, part sea shanty, part history, part mythology, part coming of age.  If you like these things, this is the book for you.

For me, it was just too weird. We come across pet crows, a reclusive teacher who appears old but isn't, strange women who seem like sirens, a mother who barely speaks to her daughter and at one point slices a dress off her, a father who has seemingly been away at sea for 10 years, a whaler who has many wives one after another, so he will have sons to sail his whaling ships. There is much more, but I wouldn't want to give anything away. There are many horrible things that happen throughout the story, yet the girl, Mercy, seems oddly unaffected by them. I found it difficult to keep track of when the story was being mystical or when it was being realistic.  It went back and forth between the two quite randomly. I didn't feel any sympathy or connection to any of the characters. None of them told anyone the truth, but rather spoke only in half truths or metaphor, if they spoke at all.

The author was good at describing the scenery and the ships and sea, but I could never quite figure out the architecture of the rather strange house that the Rathbone family lived in.  I was interested in finding out how the story ended, so the author managed to keep me intriqued enough to finish the book, but it wasn't my cup of tea. I do think it was well written, though, and should appeal to those who like mystical fantasy type books.