May

May by Lasky, Kathryn. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780439783118.

May Plum feels her life drying up. The sea calls to her, but her parents forbid her from swimming. She longs for books, but her mother finds her passion for learning strange. She yearns for independence, but a persistent suitor, Rudd, wants to tame her spirited ways. Yet after her fifteenth birthday, the urge to break free becomes overpowering and May makes a life-changing discovery. She does not belong on land where girls are expected to be docile and obedient. She is a mermaid-a wild creature of the sea. For the first time in her life, May knows what freedom feels like-the thrill of exploring both the vast ocean and the previously forbidden books. She even catches the eye of Hugh, a handsome astronomy student who, unlike the townspeople, finds May anything but strange... But not everyone is pleased with Mays transformation. Rudd decides that if he cant have May, no one will. He knows how to destroy her happiness and goes to drastic measures to ensure that May loses everything-her freedom and the only boy shes ever loved.