A young adult fantasy novel for kids ten to fifteen.
On the island of Normost in the kingdom of Windward, thirteen-year-old Cerinthe Gale is a folk healer who dreams of being a dancer. When her mother falls ill, Cerinthe fights to save her--but fails. She blames herself for her mother's death and gives up healing.
Following her dream to dance, Cerinthe sails across Windward to audition at the School of the Royal Dancers, which accepts her even though she's a commoner. It should be the beginning of a brilliant future for Cerinthe, but problems mount. A misunderstanding with a young man, a conflict with a cruel teacher, a rivalry with an aristocratic student named Elliana, and a meeting with a mederi--a skilled healer said to have magical powers--create another crisis.
When the rivalry between Cerinthe and Elliana causes a terrible accident, Elliana's life hangs in the balance. Cerinthe faces the same awful choice she had faced with her mother. Should she try to heal Elliana and risk accidentally killing her--or wait and hope that the mederi arrives in time? Only the song of the Sea Maid holds the answer.
Aria of the Sea was inspired by the twelve years I spent studying to be a classical ballet dancer. I started taking lessons when I was five. By the time I was fourteen, I was taking ballet class six days a week. I left school (Madison Junior High) an hour early to catch a bus downtown to the Cornish School of the Allied Arts. When I turned sixteen, I had to choose whether to continue studying to be a dancer or go to college. This was a very difficult choice. How do you know when a dream you may have had for a long time is no longer right? How do you hear your own voice when so many other people are telling you what to do and who to be? These are ideas I explored in Aria of the Sea.
Aria of the Sea was also inspired by a garden I saw in the Queen Charlotte Islands in Masset, Canada. This garden was by the sea. The sight of this beautiful, cultivated garden with its roses, delphiniums, and poppies next to the wild crashing surf startled me. On one side was the wild, raw creative force of nature and on the other side was nature as cultivated by the human hand. I saw that raw creative force captured and channeled to become the garden. I put that garden in Aria of the Sea, but it ended up being the mederis' herb garden up on the bluff on Healer's Hill.
