Mermaids and Lazy Activists: A Lake Michigan Tale

by Maud Lavin

Maud Lavin’s debut novel follows a woman of a certain age who loves to swim and meets Evelyn, a mermaid—feral, strapping, rule-breaking—in Lake Michigan. Evelyn is all id. The two become friends, competitors, and reluctant activists in the Great Lakes clean water movement, while also taking over poetry readings and eating many blueberry muffins.

“This is simply one of my favorite books with one of my favorite characters. Evelyn the mermaid is an absolute rock star. Well dressed. Well read. Sassy. Fearless. Her fight to protect water is everyone’s fight. Corporate greed and corruption isn’t something that is easy to stand up to. Sometimes we need a champion. But this isn’t just a typical good vs evil, little mermaid vs corporation narrative. The book is filled with hilarious dialogue, powerful poetry, and the spirit of the Great Lakes. In this deeply personal story, Maud Lavin makes us think, inspires us to get involved, and speaks a beautiful mermaid activist into existence.” —Tim Moder, author of American Parade Routes and member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

“Fantastic and fantastical, Mermaids & Lazy Activists is a wonder—a rare instance of a book with a mission that is a pleasure to read. It’s a sexy, sassy environmental tale that is as inspiring as it is delightful.” —Susan Orlean, author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book

“Delight here in this easy fairytale of friendship and shared purpose. Its mixture of the fantastic and naturalism recalls the writing of the great Soviet Surrealist Andrei Platonov, but its style is all Lavin-ian ‘Midwestern nice’; and its eco-fictive moral is never moralizing but inviting. The work of saving the planet has never been so much fun or thoughtful. So, go ahead and jump in, the water is fine!” —Zachary Cahill, author of Unicorn Death Moon Paris Guidebook

124 pages, Paperback

Published May 13, 2025

Reviews

[Rebecca Keller]

When the protagonist of this funny, fantastical book meets Evelyn--an irreverent, sexy mermaid who makes her home in beautiful lake Michigan, it kicks off a story about a serious subject (environmental degradation) told with humor and panache. The tale takes us from the water intake-crib of lake Michigan to poetry readings (in which Evelyn dons vintage velvet) to Canada, to the shores of a blueberry farm owned by a merman, as the pair hatch a plan to help clean up the Great Lakes. Learning about the environment (and being inspired to do something) has never been so fun