Follow us on Twitter | Instagram

Set in early 1910s New York, ‘When the Tides Held the Moon‘ by Venessa Vida Kelley follows Benigno “Benny” Caldera, a Puerto Rican blacksmith who immigrates to America chasing a better life and a promise made to his late aunt. Struggling to make ends meet, Benny’s craftsmanship catches the eye of a flamboyant showman named Morgan, who hires him to help build a massive water tank for his Coney Island sideshow attraction. But the job comes with a sinister twist, as Benny’s first assignment is to help capture a mythical merman to display as a living “oddity” in Morgan’s Menagerie of Human Wonders.

Also Read: ‘When the Tides Held the Moon’ Book Review – Love in a Fish Tank

The mission succeeds, and the captured merman, Rio, becomes the centerpiece of the show. Locked inside the tank like a prized exhibit, Rio is subjected to cruelty and exploitation, with only Benny showing him fragments of compassion. As the days pass, Benny finds himself increasingly drawn to the ethereal creature he helped imprison. The novel alternates between Benny’s earthbound perspective and Rio’s lyrical, poetic reflections, contrasting the merman’s sorrowful grace against the grim realities of human greed and loneliness.

Over the course of ‘When the Tides Held the Moon’, their uneasy connection deepens into a complicated romance that blurs the lines between guilt and love. Benny sees his own struggles mirrored in Rio’s captivity, both are outsiders trapped in worlds they don’t belong to. The two begin to spend more time together, and Rio teaches Benny to swim, an experience that feels freeing to the human protagonist. Yet as his affection grows, so does his moral conflict: freeing Rio would mean losing him forever. The tension builds as Benny wrestles with this impossible choice, culminating in a daring plan to release the merman.

By the end of When the Tides Held the Moon, the book never flat-out says it, but it strongly hints that Benny is part merman. Right from the beginning, we’re told he was found in the water by his aunt and never knew his parents. He struggles with mysterious lung problems on land, yet can hold his breath underwater far longer than seems humanly possible. As the story unfolds, it’s as if the sea is the one place his body fully makes sense, until it finally feels like Benny can exist underwater just as naturally as he does on land.

Early on, the idea of Benny ever truly being with Río feels heartbreakingly unlikely, because one belongs to the deep and the other to the shore. But in the climax, when we see them head into the sea together, the story suggests a different future: Benny is no longer chained to the land alone, and the ocean that once separated them now becomes the place where they can build a life side by side.

Read Next: Mary Shelley Vs del Toro’s Frankenstein – 12 Differences (Audio Version Below)