Selkies and mermaids in novels and other media

Among the many fabulous creatures who cross boundaries, selkies and mermaids are particularly fascinating; the former metamorphose between seal and human, the latter are hybrid fish and human. Both exist on the margin of sea and land. Quite a few paranormal romances and fantasy works figure these beings; here’s a list of novels, including some YA fiction (please feel free to suggest others):

Andersen, Hans Christian, Stories and Tales, 2nd edn (London ; New York: Routledge, 2002)

———, ‘The Little Sea-Maid’, in Stories and Tales, 2nd edn (London ; New York: Routledge, 2002), pp. 60–80

Anon., ‘The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie’, in A Book of Sea Legends, ed. by Michael Brown (Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, 1971), pp. 31–32

Bristow, Su, Sealskin (Orenda, 2017)

Brown, Michael, ed., A Book of Sea Legends (Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, 1971)

Cornwell, Betsy, Tides (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2014)

Fry, Rosalie K., Secret Of The Ron Mor Skerry (New York: New York Review of Books, 2017)

Gowar, Imogen Hermes, The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock (London: Harvill Secker, 2018)

Harmony, Terra, The Rising, Painted Maidens Trilogy, 1 (Patchwork Press, 2013)

Hoffman, Alice, The Museum of Extraordinary Things (London: Simon & Schuster, 2015)

Lanagan, Margo, The Brides of Rollrock Island (Oxford: David Fickling Books, 2013)

Mackenzie, Donald A., ‘In the Kingdom of the Seals’, in A Book of Sea Legends, ed. by Michael Brown (Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, 1971), pp. 33–40

Mellins, Maria, Returning Eden (Crooked Cat Publishing Ltd, 2016)

Murphy, D. S., Shearwater, Ocean Depths, 1 (Urban Epics, 2016)

Noble, Carrie Anne, The Mermaid’s Sister (New York: Skyscape, 2015)

Pandos, Brenda, Everblue, Mer Tales, 1 (Sacramento, CA: Obsidian Mountain Publishing, 2012)

Pearce, Jackson, Fathomless (Hodder Children’s Books, 2013)

Pushkin, Alexander, Boris Godunov and Other Dramatic Works, ed. by Caryl Emerson, trans. by James E. Falen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)

———, ‘Rusalka (The Water-Nymph)’, in Boris Godunov and Other Dramatic Works, ed. by Caryl Emerson, trans. by James E. Falen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)

Wells, H. G., The Sea Lady (London: H. G. Wells Library, 2016)

Film, Opera, Ballet

Aquamarine, dir. by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, 2006

Dvorák, Anton, Rusalka (Supraphon, 2011) [DVD of opera]

Dvorák, Anton, Rusalka, cond. by Alexander Rahbari (Discover International, 1999) [CD of opera]

Henze, Hans Werner, Ondine, chor. by Frederick Ashton, cond. by Barry Wordsworth (Opus Arte, 2010) [ballet]

The King’s Daughter, dir. by Sean McNamara, 2017

The Little Mermaid, dir. by Vladimir Bychkov, 1979

The Little Mermaid, dir. by Ron Clements and John Musker, 1989

The Lure, dir. by Agnieszka Smoczynska, 2015

Mad About Men, dir. by Ralph Thomas, 1955

Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature, dir. by Sebastien Gutierrez, 2001

Mermaids of Tiburon, dir. by John Lamb, 1963

Miranda, dir. by Ken Annakin, 1948

Nymph, dir. by Milan Todorovic, 2014

Ondine, dir. by Neil Jordan, 2010

The Secret of Roan Inish, dir. by John Sayles, 1995

Selkie, dir. by Donald Crombie, 2000

The Selkie’s Lover, dir. by Michael Groom, 2013

The Seventh Stream, dir. by John Gray, 2001

Song of the Sea, dir. by Tomm Moore, 2015

Splash, dir. by Ron Howard, 1984