Outing the Mermaid by Ann Medlock

Outing the Mermaid takes you on a journey into the 1960s and 70s world of civil rights, feminism, Vietnam, gurus, Mafiosi, the Pill, the Beatles, class distinctions, astrology, and the eternal mystery of what’s going on between men and women.

Subtitled A novel of love, fear & misogyny, Ann Medlock’s roman å clef is a journey into the life of Lee Palmer, a smart woman making some bad choices as she tries to find her place in that Mad Men world. Divorced, a mom, and working “outside the home” in a time when that was odd, Lee pioneers a path she finds repeatedly blocked by misogyny — and by her own unrealized programming for submissiveness.

Early readers, in these “lean-in” times, have reported shouting No, don’t do that! when Lee makes a wrong move. They’ve also fist-pumped in triumph when she gets something right. It’s a deeply engaging story, to say the least.

Author Ann Medlock has also written Arias, Riffs & Whispers, a book of poems. She’s old enough to have written far more than two books but she’s been occupied with founding and directing the Giraffe Heroes Project, a nonprofit that moves people to stick their necks out for the common good and gives them tools to succeed. In that social entrepreneuring role, Medlock has touched thousands of lives around the world with the stories of the real heroes among us, people doing courageous, compassionate service. See what she’s been doing at www.giraffe.org.

Now she gives us Lee Palmer, a flawed, funny, often frightened human you’re going to be rooting for when you read Outing the Mermaid, A novel of love, fear & misogyny.

Published by Blooming Twig Books, Outing the Mermaid is available now on Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/pefz4km.