English sample available
Miki discovers an old woman named Chris on the roof of her house. Chris has built a tent there and lives a secret life with her dog Bux.
Miki has not lived in the city for long; she is from Dedemsvaart, a small town in the Northeast of the Netherlands, where there are no ladies on roofs. So it will take some getting used to.
What makes things even harder is that Miki’s mother is about to go on a trip – yet more change, and Miki does not like it. Until one day she discovers that Chris needs her. This is the first time in Miki’s life that she has ever been needed. She decides to take the plunge and get on a boat with Chris and Bux. A sea woman, a sea dog and a mermaid girl.
With Mermaid Girl Jowi Schmitz has written a book about a world where things are not black and white, but multi-coloured. Or ‘muddy’, as Miki prefers to call it. A book about shifting desires and facing up to the muddy nature of life – and finding happiness in it too.