The Llano County Mermaid Club: A Novel

by Kathleen M. Rodgers

Book club fiction at it's finest as Kathleen Rodgers' novel reaches new heights, and hopefully new audiences, in this marvelous story of a group of girls in northeast New Mexico. Here is regional fiction aspiring for a broader market!

In the small New Mexico town of Sandhill, five girls form a secret club and dream of the ocean. When betrayal and broken promises threaten to tear them apart, one of the girls, a talented flutist named Melody Calloway, meets a tragic and mysterious end. Forty years later her best friend, Marigold Hubbard, returns to Sandhill ready to write Melody’s story. An envelope of old letters and a cryptic message in an abandoned church leads Marigold on a quest to find answers about what really happened to Melody. Emboldened by decades of unresolved anger and a belief in the power of books, Marigold must confront her elderly father about the affair he had with Melody’s mother and how his betrayal could be linked to the tragic chain of events that led to Melody’s death.

Genres: Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

Published October 21, 2025

About the author

Kathleen M. Rodgers is a novelist and a former contributor to Family Circle Magazine and Military Times. Her fifth novel, The Llano County Mermaid Club, is out now from University of New Mexico Press and was named BOOK OF THE WEEK for Oct. 12 in ABQ Journal. She is represented by Tracy Crow Literary Agency. A native of Clovis, New Mexico, Kathleen resides in North Texas and is working on her sixth novel. She is available to speak at book clubs and other events.
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Reviews

[Debra Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Written in the style of character Letty Hubbard.

Dear Mrs. Rodgers,

I just finished reading THE LLANO COUNTY MERMAID CLUB. Just like your character, Letty, writes letters to authors she admires, I just had to do the same to let you know how much I enjoyed your charming novel—and to encourage readers to check it out.

How did you do it? How did you write such a gentle yet passionate novel that immerses us in Marigold’s life as a young girl growing up in a desert town in New Mexico and then glides as swiftly and smoothly as the rail swimmer to contemporary times when, Marigold, now a widow in her fifties, returns to her hometown to seek answers from her elderly father and make peace with the past? The transitions from chapter to chapter are effortless, taking me immediately to each new time and place. May I add, I love your chapter titles, too!

I also love that this is a novel about novels, and rightly so, the library and librarian, Miss Mavis, play a central role in the growth of each character, especially the mother, Letty, a character all readers will fall in love with and remember long after the novel is finished. Clearly, I’m still thinking about her because I chose to write to you for my review!

Beyond the mystery of the disappearance of Marigold’s best friend, Melody, I was drawn to the way you wove the power of books throughout the novel. From the authors Letty admires and writes to, such as Eudora Welty and Kate Chopin, to the children’s books that so many of us have read, MADELINE and ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET, this was truly a literary novel—a tapestry of hope, conveying how literature helps us empathize with others and better understand ourselves, thereby deepening our humanity.

In another letter, I’ll tell you the books your novel has inspired me to reread.

Truly a gem of a novel!

Your devoted fan,
Debbie Thomas

[Texas · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE LLANO COUNTY MERMAID CLUB - This is one of the most interesting books I've read in a while. I like the writing style of the author, which grabs your attention and keeps you immersed in the story. The story lines and the cast of characters, the hope and determination that is a constant, and the books used to aid the telling of the family and friends lives. A clean read. Source: LibraryThing. 5*

[elhbenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an homage to literature. As a soft character novel, I enjoyed the girls’ camaraderie and imaginations. The details and imagery of the New Mexico landscape were vivid and pulled you in.

I wish there would have been more leading up to the break-down. It just sort of happened and they all blew up and then it ended. (I don’t want to spoil anything with details haha.) I know it’s hinted at in the 2017 chapters, but I’d have liked more of the drama when it happened.

[Judy & Marianne from Long and Short Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s difficult to keep a secret forever.

The character development was excellent. All of the main characters were well-rounded individuals whose flaws made a genuine difference in how not only their own lives but also the plot turned out. They felt like real people to me, especially later on once their personalities and past mistakes began to have an ever bigger influence on what was happening. I loved them in many scenes but was also exasperated with them in others. This is exactly the sort of fiction that makes it impossible for me to stop reading!

I would have liked to see more time developing the mystery elements of the storyline. There were some aspects of Melody’s death that never quite made sense to me, especially given how her personality had been described in the years leading up to that day. Some of the clues we were given felt out of place, and the explanations for them weren’t quite satisfying enough for me to choose a full five-star rating. With that being said, I still deeply enjoyed reading this book and getting to know all of the characters.

The 1960s and 1970s were not always easy eras for women and girls to live in. It was interesting to explore how the female characters reacted to the sexism and racism in their community and how they found ways around those prejudices in order to achieve as many of their dreams as possible. This was not a sugar-coated version of the past by any means, but it also left plenty of space for the characters to find joy in little things like visiting the library or swimming together. I appreciated the fact that the narrator balanced it all out and made this reader feel as thought I truly had stepped into a time machine to see what life was like sixty years ago.

The Llano County Mermaid Club was a heartwarming saga.

[Andrea Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the parched and arid landscape of eastern New Mexico, Kathleen M. Rodger’s new novel, THE LLANO COUNTY MERMAID CLUB, expertly infuses her evocative setting with the profound camaraderie of a family of three young girls, including the spirited protagonist, Marigold, and their best friends, who long for water with the metaphoric thirst of childhood imagination. Spurred by Marigold’s lovely mother, Letty, who encourages their fantasies, the girls visit the area’s one oasis, the Blue Hole, which provides the setting for the group to exercise their alter egos, mermaids, in their innermost quest to rise beyond the strict mores of their lives. As Letty endures her husband’s absence from the home and eventual affair with the mother of Marigold’s best friend, Melody, she provides a role model of a single parent whose love of literature forms the underpinning of her future education and the expansion of the girls’ world view. In alternating chapters between the formative years of the girl’s' childhood and the present as middle-aged women, the reader learns about Melody’s devasting death and how the characters deal with secrets and guilt. And this is also a work that applauds the literary life, providing inspiration from published classic female authors, applauding the sanctuary of the local library and guidance of the librarian, and finally, as an author who works to get her life story on the pages as an act of remembrance and absolution. All the characters are beautifully realized, and as the novel draws to a satisfying conclusion, we are thankful to get to know them through the compassionate and skillful pen of Kathleen M. Rodgers and hope to meet them again gracefully waging their long tales with the fervor of pride and love. Highly recommended.

[Ruth Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book on many levels. The character development was superb, well-differentiated, and each character showed growth during the course of the book. The relationship among all of the girls was complex, and the plot kept going with foreshadowing, tragedy, and twists. I loved how literature (both children's titles and adult classics) was interwoven with the plots of the book (especially the letters to the authors such as Eudora Welty). The setting was important to the story too--New Mexico rural/small town places--written with vivid descriptions that I could see and feel. I could continue for a while, but I suggest that people read this and experience it yourselves.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Advanced Reader's copy: Story about 5 girls (3 are sisters) who form friendships and a club in their teens - a mermaid club. I reviewed this book earlier for the author and called it a bit "fluffy" for my liking. Even though they lose a friend, a "fellow mermaid", it doesn't feel like these girls experience it. And the father - he has nothing redeeming about him. The story about the mermaid above the train was just bizarre....