Whistle knows he's not like everyone else. His lungs give out after only a half hour underwater, and his tail is strangely divided. Finally, his mother gives up on him and casts him out onto the land, where a scholar takes him in and tries to civilize him.This could be an interesting tale (heh) of a fish out of water (heh) with a critique of colonialism and humanism running beneath it. But then we get the explanation of *why* Henry/Whistle is being raised, and to me, the explanation turns this book into something even greater.
In Great Waters is a cross between British history, and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, but with mermaids. It sounds like crack, but Whitfield is an incredible writer. As in Benighted, fantastical creatures are used to people and complicate a world that is recognizable but a bit off. Issues of power and control, of who gets to make decisions, of what world-view is acknowledged, how history is created, of how norms are created/overturned/reaffirmed--all of it roils through her books. Physicality has a power here that few authors acknowledge, from the calloused hands of lycanthropes in Benighted to the curved backs and crutches of royalty here. These are the books I would give to anyone who doubts that fantasy can still have new things to say.