A Song Below Water

A Novel

By: Bethany C. Morrow

Narrated by: Andrea Lang, Jennifer Haralson

Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

2020 Nautilus Book Award - Gold
2020 NPR Best Book of the Year
2021 Locus Awards - Nominee

Bethany C. Morrow's A Song Below Water is the story for today’s listeners - a captivating modern fantasy about black mermaids, friendship, and self-discovery set against the challenges of today's racism and sexism.

In a society determined to keep her under lock and key, Tavia must hide her siren powers. Meanwhile, Effie is fighting her own family struggles, pitted against literal demons from her past. Together, these best friends must navigate through the perils of high school’s junior year.

But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice at the worst possible moment.

Soon, nothing in Portland, Oregon, seems safe. To save themselves from drowning, it’s only Tavia and Effie’s unbreakable sisterhood that proves to be the strongest magic of all.

An NPR Best Book of the Year - 2020

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Teen

“An enthralling tale of black girl magic and searing social commentary ready to rattle the bones.” (Dhonielle Clayton, New York Times best-selling author of The Belles)

©2020 Bethany C. Morrow (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“I love this book so, so much! Bethany C. Morrow delivers a blistering modern classic with this gorgeous tale of friendship and power. A Song Below Water somehow manages to be intensely happy and sad at the same time and all in the balance of great, riveting storytelling. The best YA novel I've read all year.” (Daniel José Older, New York Times best-selling author of Shadowshaper)

“Morrow masterfully blends the real lives of Black girls in contemporary Portland with a mythic world of sirens, gargoyles, and other supernatural creatures to create a compelling coming-of-age story in which two sisters, bound by love and fate, find their voices and their power.” (Rebecca Roanhorse, Hugo, Nebula and John W. Campbell Award winner, author of Trail of Lightning)

“Empowering and full of surprises, A Song Below Water reminds us how important it is to use our voices, even when we’re afraid. Morrow has created a world that’s both familiar and brimming with fantastical creatures, and the result is timely, necessary, and utterly captivating.” (Akemi Dawn Bowman, award-winning author of Starfish and Summer Bird Blue)

recommend to every black girl

loved the story, very smooth voice acting. I even cried a bit multiple times. ugh I loved this story!

Beautiful "finding your voice" story

This is a well put together story that moves at the perfect pace. The author has done an exceptional job of capturing the angst of teenage girls without making them unlikeable. In fact, she shows the beauty of girls at that age.

The story pulls you in with beautiful imagery and a mysterious storyline. The ending is deeply satisfying. The author does not take the easy Hallmark movie style ending. Instead, she has crafted an ending that feels true to the characters and their struggles.

Overall, the narration is excellent. My only complaint is that Effie's narration is quite a bit quieter than her sister's. It fits the story but was a little difficult for my aging ears. I found myself adjusting the volume back and forth when the point of view changed.

The story is both an allegory and an explicit take on the challenges of race. It gives a perspective on the inner turmoil that people of color may experience. At the same time, the fantasy genre story of the two sisters stands on its own.

A Song Below Water is well worth the time to read or listen.

What do you want in a Summer Read?

Listener, I thought this book would be a light-hearted, fun frolic thought a teen’s view of fairyland of Portland. Oh, was I wrong, but in the best ways.

What do you want in a Summer Read?

Tropes turned on their heads? Check.

Strong sister-bond? Check.

Girls learning to use their voices, albeit with some understandable missteps? Check.

Struggles and with modern and relatable themes, like consent, minority identity, complicated rationales, and other weighty matters for our characters, but without banging it over the reader’s head? Check!

All with grace and affirmation that you can choose how the react – or not react? That choices are sometimes not binary and sometimes not don’t need to be immediately made? Check!!

Superior narrators who capture the characters, and somehow, magickly, the special sister-bond between the characters? Check!!!

An incredible and extremely reliable story full of

truths, that's what this book is written about. It has a massive interplay of real world issues combined with fantastic creatures. it was empowering and sad and balanced. there's enough fantasy, enough realism that this story could be happening right now. I highly recommend. Black Lives Matter, what a protest actually feels like, keeping a secret, inner anger and power dynamics within nd without one's self. this book will captivate you and leave you satisfied once done. All the while, I want more from Bethany C. Morrow.

Black Mermaids? Yes!

The plot gets a little slow/lost in the characters' reflection at times but it is an overall fun, smart, and necessary story. It's amazing as a black reader (and a mer hobbyist myself) to feel like my experiences are an inherent part of a fantasy narrative. Love the sisterhood between the main characters!

Great story Bad actor choice

Amazing book, I love Black authors that write fantasy and magic, there's nothing like it. But Black voice actors would have made this MUCH better. The vernacular and certain terms aren't translated well with the chosen voices. Any Black girls that love mermaids like me should DEFINITELY read this book though.

Beautiful & poignant

I loved this book so much, both in print and as an audiobook. The imagery throughout is rich & beautiful, and the perspective shown is so important. Highly recommend! 💜💜💜

Not about mermaids

I was so excited to read a book about mermaids to learn it’s not that at all however this story did change my mind about fantasy novels. So to the author thank you for opening me up to a new genre.

This story is so relevant!

I highly suggest listening to this book! it is full of current events affecting black and brown people today! racism, sexism and add on supernatural speciesism. Only downfall is the next book doesn't come out until 6/21. I already pre-ordered it!

Great world and characters! Physical may be better

The story itself was just pretty good (there's a major plot point that is weakly written), but the world building and the characters are Awesome! This was beautiful to visualize. I love the message behind the world and the story too. 4 stars

One of the readers leaves something to be desired. She has a strange cadence in her sentences; very often, she pauses and has a declarative tone 3 words shy of the end. of the sentence. It's very jarring. She's an odd choice for a reader. It was hard to understand who was speaking at times too. This book may be great to read physically. 2 stars