She nearly falls into the sea but the Mer boy, Faro, helps her keep her balance. At first she thinks he is wearing a wetsuit pulled down to the waist, but later realises that he actually has a seal's tail instead of legs. Suddenly she notices a boy perched on a rock. She calls out for her father and the singing stops. Searching for him at the cove, Sapphy hears a beautiful voice singing a familiar song that her father had sung to her in the past. The next day, Conor leaves again for the cove after their mother has left for work. When asked about the girl, Conor behaves as if she were never there, and is shocked to discover that hours have passed since he went for a 'quick' swim. She finds him speaking to a mysterious girl named Elvira in the water at the nearby cove, and waits until the girl suddenly disappears. Fearing that the same thing that happened to her father has happened to Conor, Sapphy sets out to look for him. Many locals presume he has drowned or run off with another woman, but Sapphy and her brother Conor secretly promise to continue searching for him.Ībout a year later, Conor also disappears. The song references 'Ingo', a realm 'far across the briny sea'.įor the next three nights, Mathew goes out sailing, returning with wet clothes. Later, on Midsummer Night, Mathew sings Peggy Gordon while gazing at the sea. He reveals the man's name is Mathew Trewhella, but claims his identical name is a coincidence. He shows her the carved Zennor Mermaid chair and tells her the tale of the Mermaid of Zennor, in which a Mer falls in love with a human man who swims away with her, becoming Mer.

Senara's church, Cornwall, with her father Mathew Trewhella. Ingo is a children's novel by English writer Helen Dunmore, published in 2005 and the first of the Ingo pentalogy (followed by The Tide Knot, The Deep, The Crossing of Ingo and Chronicles of Ingo: Stormswept (2012).

Ingo by helen dunmore