American Mermaid: A Novel

"Witty and marvelous"(Andrew Sean Greer), this “sublime” debut (NYTBR) tracks a writer adapting her feminist novel into a screenplay must decide which parts of herself are not for sale in a capitalist world run amok. “I’ve never read anything quite like it, and I loved it” (Elizabeth Gilbert).

Broke English teacher Penelope Schleeman is as surprised as anyone when her feminist, eco-warrior novel American Mermaid becomes a best-seller. But when Hollywood insists she convert her fierce, androgynous protagonist into to a teen sex object in a clamshell bra, strange things start to happen. Is Penelope losing her mind, or has her fictional mermaid come to life, enacting revenge against society’s limited view of what a woman can and should be?  

American Mermaid follows a young woman braving the casual slights and cruel calculations of a winner-take-all society and discovering a beating heart in her own fiction: a new kind of mermaid who will fight to keep her voice and choose her place. Brilliantly sharp, funny and thought-provoking” (Madeline Miller), this “absolute weirdo masterpiece” (Jean Kyoung Frazier)” is “a shapeshifting novel composed of wildly divergent elements [which] succeeds brilliantly” (Tom Perotta).

About the Author

JULIA LANGBEIN, a sketch and stand-up comedian for many years, holds a doctorate in Art History and is the author of a non-fiction book about comic art criticism (Laugh Lines, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2022). She wrote the viral comedy blog The Bruni Digest (2003-7), which reviewed New York Times critic Frank Bruni's restaurant reviews every week, and has since written about food, art, and travel for Gourmet, Eater, Salon, Frieze, and other publications. A native of Chicago, she lives outside of Paris with her family.

Author Residence: Paris, France

Author Hometown: Chicago, IL