The Llano County Mermaid Club: A Novel [Paperback]

Winner of the 2026 WILLA Literary Award for Contemporary Fiction, this is a story of childhood friendships, an adult affair, and the lost innocence of a group of young girls longing for the sea. Scandal, tragedy, and later, darker discoveries make for an enthralling read.

Growing up in the desert town of Sandhill, New Mexico, Marigold Hubbard and her friends wanted only one thing: to see the ocean. The community pool and the nearby Santa Rosa Blue Hole are the closest they can get, and they dream of mermaids while swimming these rare waters. When Marigold learns of the affair between her father and the mother of her best friend, Melody Calloway, the betrayal tears the girls apart. Unmoored from both friends and family, Melody meets a tragic and mysterious end on the shores of the Blue Hole, leaving Marigold no chance to ever reconcile the friendship.

Forty years later, Marigold returns to Sandhill to care for her elderly father, but an envelope of old letters and a cryptic message in an abandoned church leads her on a quest to find answers about what really happened to Melody. Threading between past and present, Marigold must piece together the tragic chain of events that led to Melody’s death, pursuing questions that may have no easy answers.Kathleen M. Rodgersis the author of four previous novels, includingThe Flying Cutterbucks. She was born in Clovis, New Mexico, and currently lives in north Texas."Kathleen M. Rodgers's new novel beautifully captures the feeling of growing up landlocked and dreaming of the sea... It’s a nostalgic tale of friendship, loss, and the power of coming home.""…a compelling story of women tested to extremes and anchored by friendship in a landscape both geographically and emotionally unforgiving... Every element of this story holds enchantment.""Small-town dreamers populate Kathleen M. Rodgers’ welcoming new novel... The characters, living or dead, lÃN