Available for the first time in 20 years with original illustrations by Cedric Flower and a new introduction by Polly Samson, author of  A Theatre for Dreamers set on Hydra.

‘Her bold beautiful writing endures’  Daily Mail

‘Escape to the sun-lit islands. Clift’s writing is an honest depiction of that ideal to which we all aspire – to live the dream.  What a delight that she should have been discovered again.’  The Times

We awakened each morning to sea sounds and sea smells and white framed pictures of boats and mountain and cloud and sky

In 1954 Australian writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston left grey, post-war London, with children in tow, for the sunshine of Greece.  Mermaid Singing is the story of their first year on the tiny sponge-fishing island of Kalymnos.  An evocative portrait of the rhythms of island life long before mass tourism.

This is the companion volume to Peel Me a Lotus set on Hydra.