It wasn’t until maybe four or five years ago that I realized that I wanted to write not just about hip dysplasia and disability, but also about what it means to be a Latina, what it means to be an immigrant, to have all of these parts coexisting inside of you and not being fragmented. Even since I was young, I was writing about my hip dysplasia and my surgeries, but in essays that I sent to teen magazines that never got published. It lived in my imagination all these years, and I never really knew what to do with it until it actually ended up providing the framework for this whole story-because I knew I wanted to write really my whole life. When I lived in central Florida, we lived nearby Weeki Wachee, which is the park that Mermaid Cove is based on. And it’s something that always has struck me. I think like a lot of people, I was fascinated by mermaids as a child. What made you want to incorporate that into your novel? And in your author’s note, you highlight some of the real-life inspiration on the Mermaid Cove in your story. Your protagonist Verónica adores the mythology of mermaids, and this story dives into their many historical and cultural variations.
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