The Mermaid Chair

by Sue Monk Kidd

  The Gullah culture, which is referred to in the novel, is a distinct heritage belonging to African-American descendants of slaves who settled along the southeast coast. The culture contains its own customs, food, art, and language, some of which appear in the novel. The Gullah phrases that I’ve used are part of the Gullah language still spoken in parts of South Carolina. I’m indebted to the wonderful book Gullah Cultural Legacies by Emory S. Campbell.

  This novel began one summer day in 2001 when my friend Cheri Tyree mentioned that she’d seen a “mermaid chair” during a visit to England. I’m deeply grateful to her for this chance comment, which led me to the chair that sits in St. Senara Church in the ancient village of Zennor, in the beautiful and magical land of Cornwall. The chair is made from two fifteenth-century bench ends, one of which is carved with a mysterious mermaid. The carving is associated with the fabled Mermaid of Zennor, who fell in love with one of the church’s choristers, then lured him into the sea.

  Little historical information is available about St. Senara, the saint for whom the Cornish church is named, but I was intrigued by a legend suggesting that before Senara’s conversion, she was a Celtic princess named Asenora.

  Armed with these two morsels of inspiration—the historical mermaid chair and the bit of lore about Senara and Asenora—I began to weave my own story. I created a distinctly different mermaid chair for the novel—different in appearance, in history, and in the mythology that surrounds it—though I did use some fragments from the Mermaid of Zennor myth. I am indebted and grateful to St. Senara Church in Cornwall, for without its famous chair, this novel could not have been written.

  Finally, I would like to acknowledge two books that became my companions as I immersed myself in the symbolism, mythology, art, and history of mermaids: Sirens by Meri Lao and Mermaids, compiled by Elizabeth Ratisseau.

  Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint excerpts from the following copyrighted works:

  “One Hundred Love Sonnets XVII” translated by Mark Eisner from The Poetry of Pablo Neruda by Pablo Neruda. Copyright © 2003 by Pablo Neruda and Fundación Pablo Neruda. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

  “Music Master” from The Essential Rumi, translations by Coleman Barks with John Moyne (HarperCollins Publishers, 1995). By permission of Coleman Barks.

  “The Circus Animals’ Desertion” from The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats, Volume I: The Poems, revised, edited by Richard J. Finneran. Copyright © 1940 by Georgie Yeats, copyright renewed © 1968 by Bertha Georgie Yeats, Michael Butler Yeats, and Anne Yeats. Reprinted with permission of Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group and A P Watt Ltd on behalf of Michael B. Yeats.