When the only choice is to run, where do you run to? When the only sound is the song of the sea, do you listen? Or do you drown in the embrace of a mermaid? Throughout childhood, Jesamiah Mereno has suffered the bullying of his elder half-brother. Then, not quite fifteen years old, and on the day they bury their father, Jesamiah hits back. In consequence, he flees his home, changes his name to Jesamiah Acorne, and joins the crew of his father's seafaring friend, Captain Malachias Taylor, aboard the privateer, Mermaid. He makes enemies, sees the ghost of his father, wonders who is the Cornish girl he hears in his mind - and tries to avoid the beguiling lure of a sensuous mermaid... An early coming-of-age tale of the young Jesamiah Acorne, set in the years before he becomes a pirate and Captain of the Sea Witch.